


Next

by gonattsaga



Series: Nearly [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Boys Kissing, Consensual Underage Sex, Eating Disorder hinted at, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Jealousy, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Prophecy, Underage Drinking, mentions of dark themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:48:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27524098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gonattsaga/pseuds/gonattsaga
Summary: To say that Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts had turned out to be the most eventful to date is, despite past run-ins with giant spiders, basilisks, dragons and Voldemort himself, actually an understatement. As if breaking into the High Inquisitor's office to illegally floo into the Ministry of Magic and break inside the Department of Mysteries, only to be surrounded by Death Eaters, wasn't enough... Harry's whole world was literally turned upside-down when suddenly found himself in the wrong universe.Now back in his own universe with his family, and reunited with his Draco, Harry has barely got a moment to sigh with relief before the drama catches up with him. His and Draco’s relationship may have survived this ordeal, but will it survive a third wizarding war?
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Nearly [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/943506
Comments: 165
Kudos: 251





	1. Back

**Author's Note:**

> A brief summary of recent canon divergence which will have consequences for up-coming plot lines:
> 
> * Victor Krum was killed instead of Cedric Diggory.  
> * Harry's Triwizard Tournament winnings was given to Sirius and put in Harry's Gringotts vaults (i.e. no Weasleys Wizard Wheezies - sorry)  
> * The DA didn't get caught, Dumbledore didn't go on the run, Umbridge didn't become Headmistress  
> * Lucius Malfoy Disapparated with Draco from the Department of Mysteries, so didn't get arrested and sent to Azkaban (no-one did, because Snape never found out about Harry's vision of Sirius, so never alerted the Order)  
> * Draco ran away from home to avoid the Dark Mark and is now staying with Harry and his dads at Creirwyn's Hollow in Hogsmeade  
> * No Dark Mark or assassination assignment for Draco, no Unbreakable Vow for Snape
> 
> (and obviously, Sirius is alive and in a civil partnership with Remus, who is therefore not in a relationship with Tonks)

**Chapter 1 - _back_**

He comes to, feeling winded and desorientated. The room isn’t exactly spinning… Or swaying… Or even moving… But it’s not exactly _still_ either, Harry decides. The edges of the door frame seem to be vibrating somehow — _Hang on…_

_Door frame?_

Harry scrunches his eyes up hard and then blinks a few time before refocusing on his surroundings again, then lets out a pained groan that is part frustration, part despair as there is no doubt about where he is: sprawled on his back across the threshold between the two rooms, his legs stretched out inside the Time Room and the rest of him inside the Space Room, but more importantly, s _till here…_

”H-Harry?” a quivering squeak of a voice cuts through the ringing silence.

Harry groans again and struggles to sit up, his head spinning and vision swimming slightly for a moment.

Immediately there are bodies around him and hands are gently grabbing a hold of his arms to help to steady him as he sways once more. He fights the overwhelming urge to curl up in a ball and instead cradles his head in his hands.

” _Harry!_ ” a voice yelps.

”Did it work?” another voice asks anxiously.

” _Noo_ ”, Harry groans.

Finally, his head stops spinning and he lifts it and blinks his eyes open.

Familiar faces swim in front of him, but it takes Harry a second to really register them. His heart skips a beat, and then begins hammering wildly as the truth finally sinks in… Crouched down in a half circle around him are none other than: _his dads, Professor Snape and_ — Harry’s heart stutters happily — _his Draco!_

” _Yes!_ ” he chokes out. ”YES! IT WORKED! _IT WORKED!_ ”

He throws himself at his dads and hugs them both, feeling tears of joy begin to seep out of the corners of his eyes when the two men return the embrace with bone-crushing eagerness.

For a moment, they’re a blubbering, sniffling, laughing person pile and Harry fears his heart might explode from the happiness of it. Then he pulls away from his dads’ pawing hands to launch himself at the blonde waiting anxiously at his shoulder and slams his arms around him just as gratefully.

” _Merlin_ …” Draco whispers thickly into his neck. ”Don’t _ever_ do that to me again…”

Harry laughs wetly and leans back enough to plant a sloppy kiss on the other boy’s lips.

”Seriously!” Draco gasps. ” _Don’t —_ I’ll hex you to oblivion if you ever try to go anywhere without me ever again!”

Grinning so widely his face is beginning to hurt, Harry nods and sniffles, ”Likewise.”

”Come on”, Remus murmurs. ”Let’s go _home_.”

Harry’s whole being thrums with joy at hearing those words. _Home_. _I’m home!_

Sirius gives him a hand and Harry gingerly stands up and then sways momentarily as he gets his bearing back. Draco immediately slips his arm around his back and nestles into his side and Harry gratefully leans into him.

For the first time since he came to, Harry locks eyes with his Head of House and gives him a grateful look. The other men in the room had probably been more desperate for Harry to return, but he knows that Severus Snape is likely the one to make it happen.

”It’s good to have you back”, the Potions Master murmurs quietly and inclines his head.

”Thanks”, Harry smiles. ”It’s — actually, I can’t even _tell_ you how it feels to be back —”

”We’ll want to hear all about it”, Remus assures him gently. ”But first, I want you checked out by Madam Pomfrey and, more importantly, I want you _home_. Let’s go…”

It’s only when they start to filter further into the Time Room and start making their way towards the circular room and the Exit, that Harry realises there are even more people there than he’d first thought. He can see Professor Dumbledore hovering just behind Professor Snape along with the witch and wizard from the Department of Mysteries.

He snuggles a little closer into Draco’s side and the scent of the other boy overcomes him— _the right scent,_ he thinks. _The exact, perfect scent of_ my _Draco_.

”Okay”, he sighs. ”I’m ready. Let’s go…”

They make their way back to the Atrium and professor Dumbledore and professor Snape say their gentle good byes to Harry, Dumbledore promising Remus that he’ll send Madam Pomfrey over to their house as soon as he makes it back to Hogwarts. Remus smiles his thanks, but barely slows down. He’s ushering Harry and Draco urgently towards the fireplaces, eager to get everyone home safely. Harry glances back over his shoulder and locks eyes with Professor Snape, who gives him a small smirk.

”I’ll see you at school”, the man says quietly. ”If you could both try and stay out of trouble until then…”

Harry grins.

Remus pulls them to a stop next to the first fireplace and more or less shoves Harry into it, then immediately changing his mind and pulling him back.

”Sirius, you go first — make sure it’s safe—”

Sirius grabs a handful of floo powder with an air of indulgence and in a flash of green flames, he’s gone. They wait for beat. Harry is painfully aware of his daddy’s fingers digging into the muscles of his shoulder.

”Okay, Harry, you go next…” Remus says finally and urges him forward again.

Harry throws the floo powder onto the flames inside the fireplace and waits for them to turn green again, before stepping inside and exclaiming Creirwyn’s Hollow. In the next second, he feels himself begin to spin really fast. The solid sensation of bricks and coal disappears from underneath his feet and he’s shooting through space.

The building dread of now knowing he could be ending up on the other side of the universe, only has a moment to take hold before he’s tumbling out onto the living room floor at Creirwyn’s Hollow and Harry feels his heart skip a beat at the familiar sight. I’m home!

Sirius is at his side, steadying him with strong arms when he stumbles over his own feet, and Harry takes the opportunity to steal another hug. The older man chuckles fondly and hugs him back.

In the next moment, the fireplace roars to life again and Draco comes barelling out of it. He comes crashes into Harry and throws his arms around him before he’s even stopped spinning.

”I have a feeling there will be a lot hugging in the next few days…” Sirius says with a teasing smirk, clapping them both on the backs before making his way into the kitchen.

As if illustrating his point, Remus shoots out of the fire and crashes into them both. Harry eagerly returns the bear hug and is pleasantly surprised to see Draco do the same. He feels a small pinch in his chest, worrying what could have happened in his absence to bring the two so closely together.

_But maybe they just came together in their worry for me, and missing me,_ Harry thinks hopefully. _I grew close to Granger while I was away, maybe it’s like that._

”I’m making chocolate”, Remus annouces.

They all sit together in the living room and wait for Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey to arrive, sharing a comfortable silence that reminds Harry of his afternoon drinking tea with the other world’s professor Snape. He’s still eager to tell Draco all about that, but he can sense it’s not time yet. There seems to be an unspoken agreement between all of them to not talk about anything that’s happened in the last couple of weeks until after Remus has been reassured by Pomfrey that the space time travel hasn’t left Harry with any permanent damage.

Harry secretly thinks that Remus puts an unrealistic amount of faith in the expertise of a simple school matron, but he’s more than happy to go along with it for his daddy’s peace of mind. In fact, he’s glad that that’s all it takes to reassure the older man, that he’s not insisting Harry check into St Mungo’s for a week of observation or something.

There is a rap on the front door. While Sirius simply pushes to his feet and goes to answer it, Remus and Draco both seem to grow an inch when they suddenly straighten up their postures on either side of Harry. He looks between the two of them in amusement, but says nothing.

Sirius returns with both Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, who makes a beeline for Harry and begins to fuss over him in her usual non-coddling manner, tutting and humming as she goes. Harry feels the uncomfortable tickle of magic running along the inside of his skin as she performs a diagnotic spell on him and squirms.

”Fit as a fiddle”, she declares matter-of-factly.

Remus deflates with relief and grins from ear to ear, ”Really? You’re sure?”

”Absolutely”, the witch nods, pocketing her wand again.

”Thank you”, Remus says, shooting to his feet to shake her hand. ”Can we offer you some tea? Hot chocolate? Coffee? Something stronger?”

The matron favours him with one of her rare smiles.

”I’m fine, thank you. I think we should leave you all to catch up — don’t you, Albus?”

”Yes, yes, of course”, the Headmaster agrees heartily, but his pale blue eyes keep darting to Harry as if he wants to say something.

”Well, come along then…” Madam Pomfrey says. ”I’m sure if we leave now, we can make it to the Three Broomsticks before last call.”

”Yes”, Dumbledore mumbles, his eyes darting between Harry and Remus again, hesitating for another second. ”Yes, we shall leave you to it… I might be stopping by in a day or two, just to see how things are going…?”

There is a loaded pause before Remus smiles, ”You’re always welcome, Albus.”

”Splendid”, the old man says. ”Good night, all…”

”He’s up to something”, Remus growls as soon as the front door clicks shut.

”Moony, come finish your chocolate”, Sirius says fondly. ”And let’s hear what Harry’s been up to…”

_Where do I even start,_ Harry thinks.

”Were you really a gryffindor for a week?” Draco asks.

Harry glances sideways at him and sees that his eyes are glittering with amusement.

”Maybe”, he mutters.

Draco’s shoulder tremble with suppressed mirth, eyes glittering more than ever.

”What was it like sleeping in Gryffindor Tower?”

Harry narrows his eyes in thought and leans back in his seat, then says decisively, ”Bright.”

Sirius barks out a laugh.

”Hey, just because you dungeon vamps prefer the dark and damp, doesn’t make it normal”, he says, then rolls his eyes at the disapproving frown on Remus’ face. ”What, it’s just a joke…”

Remus’s brow remains furrowed but he says nothing, just drags his gaze back over to Harry.

”It wasn’t that bad. Everyone were really nice… Eventually”, he adds, giving Draco a sidelong look. ”The muggles I had to stay with for a week were a bit… I mean, it’s not like they could do anything to me, they were terrified of me. But yeah, that wasn’t great.”

”Muggles?” Sirius frowns. ”What muggles?”

”Potter’s muggle relatives”, Harry shrugs. ”You — the Sirius and Remus of that world — they didn’t adopt him. He grew up with Lily’s sister and her family, and none of them were very happy about it by the sounds of things…I don’t know if this is actually true, it was just something Granger told me, but apparently they made him sleep in a cupboard for the first ten years, like the broom cupboard under the stairs… I thought she was exaggerating, but having met them now… It actually wouldn’t surprise me.”

Sirius and Remus say nothing, but Remus snakes his arm around Harry’s shoulders and kisses the top of his head.

”They didn’t make me sleep in a cupboard…” Harry protests half-heartedly. ”Daddy, I’m fine… I only had to stay there for a week and then I got to go live with Professor Snape the rest of the time I was there—”

”What?” Sirius barks.

”He was tutoring me in Legilimency so that I could reach out to Potter in our sleep. It was really cool actually — Draco, you’re going to be so jealous; we had tea together, I got to read any book of his I wanted, we even played chess a couple of times… Seriously, I actually made friends with a _few_ people and they all helped me get back here.”

”Well, we’re really grateful to them as well then”, Remus murmurs, easing his embrace again. ”And we’re really happy to have you back… It hasn’t been as _cool_ without you here”, he adds with a wry smile.

Harry nods in understanding, knowing how worried his daddy must have been, how worried all of them must have been. Unlike him, who kept getting flashes of them in his sleep, they’d had no way of knowing where he was and if he was okay.

”And not _just_ because you weren’t here”, Remus adds, his gaze darting over to Draco.

Harry whips his head around, looking between the two of them. There seems to be a moment of silent communication happening, that makes his stomach knot.

”What?” he says. ”What’s happened?”

”I… ran away from home”, Draco says quietly. ”I didn’t have anywhere—”

”Well, you can stay here”, Harry says, instinctively inching closer to the other boy and grabbing a hold of his hand as expecting him to just disappear any minute. ”Right, dads? Draco can stay here?”

Sirius and Remus both smile back at him and Remus nods gently.

”He already _is_ staying here”, Sirius assures him.

”Oh… Well, good then”, Harry says, looking at Draco again. ”Sorry, you were saying?”

The blonde gives him a subtle eyeroll, his lips twitching affectionately.

”I was _about_ to tell you _why_ I ran away from home…”

”Well, I assume beause your dad’s a di— erm — he’s a Death Eater and it’s not safe for you there. I’ve been telling you that for ages!”

”Harry”, Remus chastises him gently. ”Just let Draco tell you what’s happened.”

Harry slumps back a in his seat, feeling a little abashed, but nods and gives the blonde’s hand a gentle squeeze.

Draco starts talking again and the amusement and warmth quickly leaves his face. Harry watches the silver leave his eyes as the focus of his gaze turns inwards to the memories of what he’s telling Harry, leaving his eyes a dull grey. Harry keeps squeezing his hand, first in reassurance but the more Draco talks, it becomes more of an anchor for Harry himself.

It’s okay, he keeps telling himself. It’s okay, it’s okay, there is no Dark Mark on his arm, he’s unharmed, he’s here, he’s safe, it’s okay, it’s going to be okay.

”Obviously, he… will have had a job for me to do…” Draco says quietly, his voice a little strangled from holding his emotions back. ”Something inside Hogwarts, or else why would you initiate a sixteen-year-old, you know?”

Harry nods silently.

”I don’t know what the plan was”, Draco continues hurriedly. ”If I’d stayed to get the Mark, I would have heard the plan, but then…”

He shakes his head.

”Yeah, no”, Harry says uncomfortably, frowning at the mere suggestion.

”It would have been impossible to run away after—”

”Yeah, _no_!”

” _I know_ ”, Draco says, some of the warmth returning to his eyes. ”Which is why I didn’t. I ran away immediately. I left almost everything behind, all my clothes, my…”

He hangs his head a little sadly.

”What?” Harry prompts worriedly.

”I only took whatever I had in my room and that could fit into my pockets.”

”Yeah, so?”

”I had to leave behind my books, my sketchbooks, my photo albums… my art supplies… everything important…”

Sirius, who has been perched on the arm of the sofa next to Remus and silent this whole time, suddenly moves from his spot. Harry looks up in surprise as his dad walks around the sofa and perches on the other arm instead, putting an arm around Draco’s shoulders and pulling him into a rather rough sideway hug, giving the boy a gentle jostle.

Harry feels his stomach drop, as he suddenly realises that his dad must know exactly what this feels like for Draco.

Sirius also ran away from home when he was their age, and for similar reasons. Harry remembers the first time he was allowed to come with his dads to Grimmauld Place and Sirius showed him his old room. He remembers all the stuff that was still there, that Sirius had had to leave behind. And most of it wasn’t Stuck to anything with a Permanant Sticking charm either, like the pictures on the walls. He just hadn’t been able to take it with him because he had to leave in a hurry and… _could only take what could fit in his pockets…_

”It’s okay”, Draco says thickly, then sits up straight as if forcing the sadness out of himself by physically leaving it behind in the cushions. ”I have my own vault at Gringotts — it’s just saved up pocket money, but it will see me through school, until I can get a job — I can get some more art supplies and I’ll make more memories.”

”Yes, you will”, Sirius says seriously, giving his shoulder a squeeze. ”Better ones.”

***

Remus, in particular, is reluctant to let the boys retire for the night. He keeps hovering over Harry’s shoulder offering various drinks and snacks, until Sirius finally clamps a hand onto his shoulder and steers him towards the master bedroom with a muttered _have a good night you two_ over his shoulder.

Harry huffs out a chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck and blushing as he shoots Draco a shy look. His stomach is full of Snitches again, a flurry of happy, nervous movement.

”Where… Where have you been sleeping?” he asks the blonde.

Some of the Snitches in his stomach drop heavily when he spots an unexpected flash of pain in the other boy’s eyes.

”Out here”, Draco says quickly.

Harry nods, feeling confused.

”The other Harry slept in your room”, Draco adds, giving him a wry smile. ”So I slept out here.”

”D’you…” Harry trails off uncertainly.

”What?” Draco says, his eyes now guarded in a way that makes Harry feel uncomfortable.

”D’you still want to… Sleep out here?”

Whatever was going on in the blonde’s face fades away like a clearing sky and he gives Harry a shy headshake, a small smile playing over his lips. Harry feels the tension drain out of him and sags in relief.

”Good”, he says in a small voice. ”That’s really good… because, Draco…”

”What?” the blonde murmurs, with a definite smirk on his lips now.

”I _really_ missed yo—”

Harry suddenly finds himself with his arms full of Draco and the end of his sentence stifled by a forceful kiss. He eagerly returns it, grabbing a hold of the other boy and pulling him down with him as he leans back on the sofa. Draco eagerly follows the movement and spreads out on top of him, completely smothering Harry’s body with his own and running his hands greedily over any part that he can still reach.

Draco wrenches his lips away again and leans his forehead against Harry’s as they both catch their breaths.

”Is this okay?” Draco says breathlessly. ”I’m not crushing you?”

”If you ask me that one more time, you _are_ sleeping out here…” Harry grumbles and he can feel the other boy smiling, even if he can’t see it. ”I am not that much shorter than you now.”

”I know”, the other boy says and there is an annoying hint of indulgence in his tone that makes Harry growl at him. ”I never said you were short!”

”It was _implied_ ”, Harry says sharply and gives the other boy a pinch when he snickers, then promptly smothers the resulting yelp with another kiss.

”Boys…” Remus’ loud and steady voice reaches them from the other room.

Draco hurriedly scrambles away from Harry and they both sit up, at a safe distance from each other on the sofa, readjusting their clothes and flattening their hair with frantic movements. 

”In about two minutes, I am going to walk into the kitchen for a glass of water… I would suggest you take whatever you’re doing into your bedroom before then.”

”And use a Silencing Charm!” Sirius calls out.

Harry covers his face with his hands and groans, arching his neck over the back of the sofa.

”Come on…” Draco says, grabbing his wrist.

”Can’t — too mortified to move —”

”Drama queen”, the blonde chuckles. ”Let _go_ …”


	2. The Monster Awakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before the storm of Harry's and Draco's Sixth Year.

Harry lies wide awake, just staring at the blurry outlines of his bedroom. Pale morning light is seeping in through the window and spilling over the bed and the lump he knows to be Draco curled up next to him. He smiles to himself. Although he can’t see it, there is a spare bed next to them that has gone very unslept-in all night.

He reaches across Draco, careful not to wake him up and grabs his glasses from the nightstand. He puts them on and as the lump regains the shape of his boyfriend, Harry can’t help but to release a soft breath of relief. Rationally, he knows it’s impossible (not to mention silly) that he would somehow find himself in the wrong universe again suddenly. But he also knows that the knot in his stomach, even though it has very little to do with rationale, is going to treat him to many sleepless nights in the next few weeks.

Harry gingerly curls his arm around Draco and gently curls towards him. Draco snuggles into the embrace in his sleep and his fingers reach out to blindly fist the fabric of Harry’s pyjama top. _Like he’s literally making sure I stay put,_ Harry thinks with a grin.

It takes Remus all of two seconds to work out their chosen sleeping arrangements when they slump into their seats for breakfast, Draco discretely arching his back and rolling his shoulders while Harry absent-mindedly rubs the sore mucles at the back of his neck. With a soft sigh, he tells the boys to finish their breakfast and then help him carry the spare bed out of Harry’s bedroom again.

”What, why? What did we do?” Harry yelps and then blurts out his normal apology phrases in a rush. ”We won’t do it again, I’ll be good, and I’m sorry!”

Remus huffs and gives him unimpressed look.

”I’m going to transfigure your bed into a King”, he explains patiently.

”Oh…” Harry blushes. ”Okay, that’s — thank you.”

”You’re welcome.”

Sirius lets out a muffled huff, but when Harry looks over he can tell it’s nothing to do with his and Draco’s sleeping arrangements, because the man is busy scowling down at the morning’s copy of the _Daily Prophet_.

”What’s wrong?” he asks.

Sense memory of last year’s dread about the _Prophet’s_ smear campaign against him immediately kicks in and knots Harry’s stomach.

”Scrimgeour”, Sirius says and shakes his head, then turns to Remus. ”I mean, don’t get me wrong. Fudge isn’t exactly my favourite person in the world, especially after the whole Umbridge business…”

Remus nods in agreement.

”But this…” Sirius adds, giving the paper a disgusted look. ”This whole cruscade to pin every little thing that’s gone wrong on the Minister, just for the excuse to, once again, demand his resignation… it’s so transparent — and it’s got Fudge all hot and bothered, which is the last thing we need right now at the Department — oh, that reminds me, I’m going to have to go in again today.”

Remus swallows a sigh, but doesn’t say anything.

”I’m sorry…” Sirius murmurs and reaches out to cover the other man’s hand with his own. ”I’ll make sure to be home for dinner.”

”Don’t promise that. You know I just want you to promise to be safe”, Remus mutters.

Sirius smiles and leans in for a kiss. Harry quickly looks away and discovers Draco has pulled the _Prophet_ closer and is gently leafing through it. Harry would think that he’s also just avoiding seeing the intimate display across the table and idly skimming the headlines of the paper as an excuse, but there is a worried intensity in his eyes which tells Harry he’s really searching for something…

Harry can guess that he’s looking for signs of Death Eater activity or possibly something that will give him a hint of how his own parents are doing. The gut feeling is confirmed when the blonde stops flicking the pages, his face draining of colour as he stares down at the headline: _Former Durmstrang Headmaster Found Dead._

Sirius watches Draco warily from across the table and at Remus questioning look he says, ”They found Karkaroff… In a shack up north, the Dark Mark cast above it—”

”What”, Remus gasps. ”How is that not front page news?”

”Guess Fudge wants to keep a lid on it… That’s how the _Prophet_ spins it as well, suggesting it’s another deranged neo-Death Eater, basically Crouch Jr. all over again. Anything to deny that He’s back.”

Harry stares down at the small picture of Karkaroff, who scowls back at him. The photo had clearly been taken during the Triwizard Tournament, because he can see the shoulder of Barty Crouch Sr. and the waist of Madame Maxime on either side of Karkaroff and in the background there’s a blurry but obvious crowd waving and cheering. It seems like a lifetime ago now, but it’s only been a year.

As if echoing his thoughts, Sirius continues, ”I can’t believe he managed to hide for a whole year. They found Regulus after two weeks…”

Remus reaches out and rubs his hand gently over his husband’s shoulder blades. Harry can tell his dad’s face has clouded over, which is usually a sure sign he’s in one of his _heavy moods_ as Remus calls it. But in the next moment, Sirius’ face clears again and with a deep breath, he sits up a little straighter and grins somewhat convincingly.

After waving good bye to Sirius, Harry and Draco get started on the list of chores Remus has asked them to help with while he works on his book manuscript in the upstairs study.

”And if you take a break to play Quidditch”, he adds from the bottom of the stairs. ”Stay in the garden, close to the house where I can see you. Okay, Harry?”

”Okay”, Harry nods in agreement.

They’ve swept and scrubbed their way halfway through the house, when Harry bends down to nip a particularly stubborn dust bunny jammed into the corner of the kitchen and the faded but definitely decipherable words _I must not tell lies_ gleam in the sunlight as it hits the back of his hand. He stops short, just staring at the scar tissue.

_That’s also a lifetime ago,_ he thinks. _Yet not long ago, at all._

He remembers the Umbridge of the other world, frazzled and paranoid in the Hospital Wing and Ron Weasley telling him that the other Harry and Granger had lured her into the Dark Forest and got her abducted by the centaurs.

”Harry?” Draco’s voice cuts into his reverie.

Harry straightens up again and turns to face him.

”You okay?”

”Yeah… I just got to thinking”, Harry says lightly. ”What happened to Umbridge — in this world, I mean?”

”Oh…” Draco blinks in surprise, his gaze flitting to Harry’s right hand fleetingly. ”I don’t know. I think she might have been fired — I mean, the official story is she resigned because she was needed at the Ministry.”

”When was this?”

”The next day. And I don’t think she expected it, either. Because she was out for blood after we flooed from her fireplace. All of our parents were called to the Headmaster’s office that same night. I definitely thought we were getting expelled, but…”

”You think Lucius threatened to get her fired if she didn’t resign?” Harry asks cautiously.

Draco looks away and resumes dusting the mantlepiece, his fingers handling the photo frames gently and carefully, but he nods.

”I guess, if my dads let your parents know that she was still making me use a blood quill…”

”Yeah”, Draco says quietly, nodding again. ”They would have realised they couldn’t control her. They don’t like that…”

Draco holds one of the photo frames, dust rag and gaze lingering on top of the picture. Harry walks over and glances at the picture curiously. He’s surprised to see that it’s a photo of him and Draco playing quidditch during what looks like Harry’s fourteenth birthday party. He hasn’t seen it before and thinks one of his dads must have taken it and had it developed and framed while he was away.

”This was a good day”, Draco murmurs softly.

”Yeah…” Harry says.

”Nothing had really happened yet.”

”Come on…” Harry says, gently taking the photo frame from the other boy and putting it back on the mantlepiece. ”Let’s take a break.”

”Shouldn’t we finish this first?” Draco frowns.

”It’s not like it _really_ needs doing”, Harry mutters. ”My dads can magick this place clean in three seconds. It’s just because daddy thinks it’s good for us to be doing stuff the muggle way… it’s — what’s the word? When you have a lot of stuff on your mind, it helps you to do stuff with your hands, or tire yourself out physically, because it’s—?”

”Therapeutic”, Draco nods and puts the rag down.

”Yeah, that — well, so is flying. So let’s go for a fly!” Harry grins.

He grabs Draco’s hand and drags him towards the front door, pausing next to the staircase only to call up to Remus that they’ll be in the garden for a while.

” _Stay close to the house!_ ” Remus calls back.

They race each other around the house a few times, then throw a Quaffle to each other whilst zipping and looping around, laughing breathlessly at the other’s increasingly daring stunts. Suddenly, something seems to catch Draco’s eye and he pulls to an abrupt stop, completely missing the Quaffle which soars passed his shoulder and breaks through the upstairs window to land on top of the desk in front of Remus who startles.

” _Harry—!_ ” he barks, but then also stops short. ”Oh…”

Harry frowns and swirls around, following the gazes of his daddy and boyfriend to see two dark specks against the sky, growing larger and larger.

”Oh Merlin…” Draco gasps, looking like he might fall off his broom any moment.

He drops down to the ground. He’s staring wordlessly at the approaching two owls whilst biting his lip anxiously, when Harry joins him.

”What?” Harry says, feeling perplexed. ”It’s just the mail?”

”It’s Saturday”, Draco squeaks.

Harry hears the tinkling sound of glass coming together behind him and turns around to see Remus repairing the window before disappearing deeper inside the house. A moment later, he appears in the doorway, also staring up at the sky.

”That would be your O.W.L. results, then”, he comments lightly.

Draco lets out a pained groan and his Nimbus falls to the ground with a muffled _thump_ as he begins to wring his hands nervously.

_The O.W.L:s…_ Harry had completely forgotten about the exams. It just seems so trivial now, when they’re standing on the threshold of war, to be worried about exams. _But_ , he concedes, throwing his boyfriend a sidelong look. If it distracts Draco from everything horrible that’s been happening lately, _that’s good._

The owls finally reach them and lands deftly on Harry’s and Draco’s shoulders, holding their legs out dutifully.

”I’ll put the coffee on…” Remus says behing them.

Harry unties the large square envelope dangling from the owl’s leg with fumbling fingers and catching the envelope swiftly as the knot comes undone. The owl kicks off from his shoulder again and takes flight, but the other owl is still patiently waiting for Draco to untie his own letter, tremours going through it as Draco’s shaking hands jostle its leg. Finally, the know comes undone and with a flutter of its wings, the owl takes flight and follows its colleague.

”Oh no…” Draco says in a small voice, staring down at his name penned to the front of the envelope. ”Oh no… Oh no…”

”Relax, I’m sure you’ve got all Os—”

” _Don’t_ ”, Draco snaps shrilly. ” _Don’t, don’t, don’t—!_ ”

”Okay, okay”, Harry exclaims. ”Come on, let’s go inside and ope—”

_Scritch_ , Draco rips into the envelope with trembling hands. Harry swallows a sigh and leaves him to it, bringing his own letter inside. Remus is waiting for them in the kitchen, looking almost as nervous as Draco but sightly more excited.

”Did you open it?”

Harry swallows another sigh and slumps down at the table, gently ripping into his own envelope. Dread starts pooling into his stomach as his mind flashes back to the beginning of the summer. He knows he’s failed at least one subjects… He fell asleep in the History of Magic exam and had the vision — or what he thought was a vision — of Sirius being tortured by Voldemort, so he’s hardly expecting to have passed that.

He pulls out the parchment and unfolds it.

**_ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS_ **

_Pass Grades:_

_Outstanding (O)_

_Exceeds Expectations (E)_

_Acceptable (A)_

_Fail Grades:_

_Poor (P)_

_Dreadful (D)_

_Troll (T)_

**_HARRY JAMES POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:_ **

_Astronomy: E_

_Care of Magical Creatures: O_

_Charms: E_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Divination: A_

_Herbology: E_

_History of Magic: D_

_Potions: O_

_Transfiguration: E_

Harry lets out the breath he’d inadvertently been holding in and it brings a soft chuckle with it.

”Yes? Good?” Remus says hopefully, grinning from ear to ear, just as Draco comes bounding into the kitchen with a similar beaming expression on his face and Remus looks between the two of them eagerly. ”Well? Are you going to tell me?”

”I did all right”, Draco says airly and melts into the seat next to Harry, still beaming as he casually drops his O.W.L. results onto the table top. ”You can see for youself, if you want… I mean, there’s room for improvement _of course,_ but…”

”Oh, Draco…” Remus says, scanning the list of grades before sending a brilliant smile across the table that makes the blonde’s feigned cool come apart a little at the seams, allowing a flicker of proud joy to shine through. ”This is amazing. Very well done!”

A small blush breaks out in the blonde’s face and he quickly shakes his hair into his face and smiles happily at the table top.

”Harry? Can we see yours?” Remus adds warmly.

”I’m sure they’re not as good as Draco’s”, Harry smiles and hands his letter over to his daddy. ”But they’re okay.”

”Okay, I’m making a cake”, Remus says decisively as soon as he’s scanned Harry’s grades as well, his whole body thrumming with happy energy as he jumps to his feet. ”This needs to be celebrated!”

Harry grins and reaches for Draco’s letter and quickly reads the results, warm pride stirring pleasantly in his chest. He looks up to tell the other boy how proud he is of him, but the words slip back down his throat when he realises the blonde isn’t smiling anymore, instead an unreadable look has invaded his face and his gaze is fixed on something in the space in front of him that Harry can’t see.

”Well done, Draco…” Harry murmurs.

The other boy blinks the focus back into his eyes and smiles his thanks at Harry, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes this time.

”You too.”

”These results…” Harry says, waving the letter a little. ”They’re amazing. I’m so proud of you.”

”Me too”, Remus pipes up happily from behind them and Draco gives the man a surprised, almost pained look. ”Draco? You okay?”

Draco forces another smile onto his face, ”Yeah. Of course.”

He looks down again and swallows thickly. Remus’ face softens and something like understanding flickers into his eyes when the blonde adds quietly, ”I did it. I got at least five Os…”

”You got six”, Harry says and nods in encouragement.

He frowns in confusion when Remus gives him a sidelong look, before walking over to gently rub Draco’s shoulder.

_What am I missing?_

”When you’re back at Hogwarts”, Remus murmurs. ”You can use one of the school owls and write home, if you want to let Narcissa know. Yes?”

_Oh_ , Harry thinks. _That’s what…_

”Yeah, maybe”, Draco mumbles thickly, then nods decisively. ”Yeah. That’s a good idea. I can owl from Hogwarts, that should be safe… I’ll do that.”

”So what deal did _you_ have?” Remus asks lightly, walking back to the stove to resume baking. ”Harry and I had the deal that he could study to become an animagus sooner, if he passed all his O.W.L:s and got at least two Os—”

”I got three!” Harry says eagerly.

”Yes, I know, Harrry”, Remus says patiently and shoots him an exasperated look. ”But did you pass all your subjects?”

” _What—!_ ” Harry grabs his letter again. ”Wha- But — Oh _come on_! History of Magic doesn’t count — I had that vision — I thought dad was _dying_ —!”

Remus says nothing, just looks back at Draco and gives the boy a small smile.

”It doesn’t matter anymore”, Draco says with a small, dismissive headshake.

”Well, still…” Remus says and shrugs. ”You don’t have to tell me, I was just curious.”

Draco seems to weigh his words, then licks his lips and says softly, ”Wandlore.”

Remus shoots him an encouraging smile over his shoulder.

”I would be allowed to study wandlore… After graduation…”

_Really, you’re still on that?_ Harry doesn’t say, because he gets the sense that now isn’t the right time to express his own scepticsm of wandmakers like Ollivander.

*

Harry and Draco are cuddled up together listening to a audio play on the wireless, when Sirius gets back from work and slumps down on the other end of the sofa. Remus put his book down and gets up from his armchair to go reheat some dinner for him and Harry reaches over to turn the volume down.

”What are we listening to?” Sirius asks, frowning curiously at the wireless. ”This isn’t _the_ _Witching Hour_ , is it?”

”No, it’s _Conjuring the Bard_ ”, Draco says. ”It’s my favourite show.”

”Conjuring the Bard?” Sirius repeats, his frown deepening.

”It’s a group of actors doing dramatic readings of Shakespeare plays.”

”Oh”, Sirius says, his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline. ”Your parents know you're into Shakespeare?”

”My mother does”, Draco mumbles. ”She’s the one who introduced me to his plays.”

”Really?”

”She got me a copy of _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ for my twelfth birthday”, he nods, smirking a little wistfully. ”She said to hide it from father because he can be a bit narrow-minded at times, but just because something was created by a muggle-born doesn’t necessarily mean it’s… not good.”

Harry and Sirius both snort softly. _Lucius Malfoy a bit narrow-minded… Yeah, you could say that_ , Harry thinks wryly.

”Good old Narcissa…” Sirius mumbles, smiling his _thanks_ to Remus when the man returns and hands him a plate of Shepherd’s pie.

”How was work?”

Sirius just shakes his head tiredly and starts digging into the pie.

”Next time, try and break into someone else’s department, eh, Harry?” he says good-naturedly and winks at him.

Harry is suddenly overcome with the memory of gripping Draco’s hand tightly and running for his life, glass spheres raining down over them and smashing at their feet in a chorus of destruction, punctated by _cracks_ of Apparition, pounding of running footsteps and whizzing hexes, and then Lucius Malfoy’s furious voice hollering through it all, ”Get them! No curses! Draco is with him and he’s got the prophecy!”

The one glass orb that didn’t smash, slipping in his sweaty grip as he and Draco dove into the room with all the clocks.

Lucius had called it a prophecy. It’s what Voldemort was after, why he sent Harry the vision of Sirius, so he would break into the Department of Mysteries to help him… _Just so I find that one glass orb with my name on, so I would take it down from the shelf and hand it over to the Death Eaters…_

_But why? And what happened to it?_

”There was a prophecy”, he says.

The silence in the room slowly morphs into something a little sharper around the edges.

”That’s what Voldemort was after, what he wanted me to find.”

”Yes…” Sirius says, avoiding his eyes.

”Did you find it?” Harry asks, his heart cautiously picking up the pace inside his chest. ”I had it when I was running away from the Death Eaters, but… I don’t know what happened to it after I fell through the door, I mean the portal…”

”No.” Sirius says shortly.

”No?” Harry repeats in dismay. ”You mean he got a hold of it?”

”No”, Draco says immediately. ”He didn’t get it either.”

Sirius looks up again, eyeing Draco thoughtfully.

Harry looks between the two of them for a moment, then sinks into his own thoughts. On the one hand, he knows he should feel relieved that Voldemort didn’t get the prophecy, since it was obviously important to him.

But, on the other hand, since it _was_ important to Voldemort, it probably would have been useful to hear it and they don’t have it either.

_It was about me and him,_ Harry thinks, his heart thudding hard in his chest. _A prophecy about Voldemort and me. That would have been useful, but it’s gone… What if it smashed as well, when I was duelling the Death Eaters, or when I fell?_

_That means it’s gone for ever…_

”This is good”, Sirius says, breaking Harry out of his thoughts again. ”It means Voldemort won’t ever hear the end of that prophecy…”

”But…” Harry says. ”We won’t either… though…?”

Sirius says nothing, just exchanges a look with Remus.

”Boys, it’s getting late”, the other man says.

Harry and Draco nod and get to their feet, shuffling out of the room with mumbles _good nights_.

”He blamed Avery and Goyle”, Draco says quietly when they’re both snuggled into bed, staring at each other in the darkness. ”But he wasn’t exactly happy with father either, when he found out he’d left with me instead of it… I think that’s why he… You know… As punishment to both of us, and as a reminder.”

”A reminder?” Harry repeats quietly.

”Yeah… A reminder of what our priorities should be. Where our loyalties should lie.”

Harry swallows down a persistent lump in his throat. Even though Draco is safe, here with him… his chest feels tight thinking how close he’s been to losing him forever. The thought of the blonde being anywhere near Voldemort and his Death Eaters, the thought of his delicate wrist gripped by those skeletal fingers and branded with his mark… Harry shivers, and snuggles a little closer to the other boy under the duvet, just to reassure himself that he’s here.

The familiar scent that is just _Draco_ sneaks up on him and has the usual, calming effect. Harry remembers the other Draco, almost identical to his own Draco in every way, once he let his guard down, _except for his smell._

He would have gone home to Malfoy Manor when I went to the other Harry’s muggle relatives, Harry thinks and wonders if he discovered Voldemort waiting for him as well. In that world, Lucius Malfoy had been arrested and sent to Azkaban. If Voldemort demanded Lucius brand his son with the Dark Mark as punishment for failing to retrieve the prophecy, Harry can’t help but wonder what his reaction would be to Lucius failing to retrieve to prophecy _and_ getting caught by the Ministry.

He feels around for Draco’s arm and gently grips his wrist.

”Harry?” Draco says softly. ”You okay?”

”Yeah…” Harry murmurs. ”I just got to thinking about the other Draco… You know, wonder if he’s been facing the same dilemma.”

”Probably… why?”

”Nothing, just…” Harry squeezes the other boy’s wrist gently. ”I hope he felt like he could run away, that he could go to the other Harry like I told him… I hope he didn’t feel like he had nowhere to go or… that he has to face all this on his own…”

”You told my counterpart to reach out to the other Harry?” Draco says curiously.

”Yeah, he seemed to have a bit of a crush on him. So I told him he should go for it. You never know unless you try, right?”

”I told the other Harry the same thing.”

”Really?” Harry smiles.

”Yeah…” Draco says quietly. ”He seemed to have a crush on me.”

”I’m sure he did”, Harry quips happily, but feels his smile quickly falter when the blonde says nothing else.

Harry wishes he could see him, but it’s too dark and he’s not wearing his glasses. I’m sure I’m imagining it, he tells himself. But the air seems to have been sucked out of the room, making it hard to breathe.

_What if Draco and the other Harry—?_

_No,_ Hary tells himself. _Even if Draco believed he was me for a minute and went to kiss him, like I did with the other Draco, nothing would have happened… They weren’t a couple, they weren’t even friends. The other Harry would have recoiled from Draco, just like the other Draco recoiled from me._

_But what if he didn’t?_

Harry gets a flash of Draco throwing his arms around Harry — _the other Harry, the_ wrong _Harry_ — who readily kisses him back, even deepens it, hungrily, _greedily_ , and it’s if something large and scaly has suddenly reared up inside of him, clawing its way up the inside of his stomach and chest. Harry’s blood is running hot, the inside of his skull has been transfigured into a cauldron boiling over and he can’t think of anything besides his own sudden desire to tear the other Harry limb from limb.

”Harry?” Draco says in a small voice.

”Yeah?” Harry says gruffly.

”You’re kind of… hurting my arm…”

”Oh, sorry”, Harry mutters and quickly lets go of the other boy.

”It’s okay…” the blonde says quietly. ”Good night…”

Even though Harry tells himself sternly that nothing happened between Draco and the other Harry and that it's clearly paranoid of him to think it did, as he lies staring out into the darkness, unable to fall asleep, his heart keeps pounding: _rip, tear, bite, chew, kill_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to add a note to the beginning of this fic with a summary of the changes made in "Nearly" which will logically affect the up-coming plot lines.


	3. Happy Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's Sixteenth!

Harry’s sleep, once he finally manages to drift off, is haunted by fragmented but unsettling dreams. Although he remembers none of them specifically when he wakes up, they leave him with a hollow feeling inside.

If Draco lost any sleep or remembers their talk — _or rather, non-talk_ — from the night before, he doesn’t show it. His face is open and his eyes are glittering happily when Remus recruits him to help out with Harry’s birthday preparations. With a literal spring in his steps, he gets up from the table and jumps to Remus’ side.

Harry watches the two of them, eagerly huddled together over Remus’ big cookbook, discussing cake recipes.

”My birthday isn’t for another week”, Harry reminds them.

”Just let them get on with it”, Sirius says in a playfully conspiratory hiss, then shoots Remus a teasing smile when the man huffs at him.

”You alright, Harry?” Sirius adds when the two other wizards have turned back to the cookbook. ”You look like you had a rough night…?”

Harry gives him a noncommittal grunt in response and refills his coffee, cradling the warm mug close to his face.

”Trouble sleeping or activities I don’t want to know anything about?” Sirius continues warily.

Harry grimaces at him over the rim of his mug.

”I slept fine”, he lies. ”Just had some weird dreams…”

He becomes aware of the tension in the room, before the lack of chatter registers and looks over at Draco and Remus who are both staring back anxiously.

” _Dreams_ ”, he repeats in exasperation. ”Not visions, dreams.”

He turns back to his coffee with a half-hearted grumble. Sirius gives him a sympathetic look, but swiftly changes the subject to Quidditch and Harry is extremely grateful for it.

In the days leading up to Harry’s fourteenth birthday party, he’d been agonising over who to invite and all Remus had said was that he should invite whomever he wanted. This year, there are four of them agonising over the guest list.

Sirius is in favour of not inviting any Slytherins at all, much to Harry’s and Draco’s outrage even though the blonde holds back from expressing it, probably because he’s still a bit scared of Sirius. Harry on the other hand, is vocal enough for the both of them, reminding his dad that all his friends are in Slytherin.

”So it would be just me and Draco and that’s it, that’s the list!”

”Fine by me”, Sirius says, pushing his chair back to balance on the two back legs.

” _Daddy_ ”, Harry exclaims, sending Remus a desperate look.

”Of course it won’t be just you and Draco…” Remus assures him, whilst reaching out to grab his husband’s elbow.

Sirius’ chair comes back down to all fours with a loud _phamp_ and he leans forward to cross his arms on top of the table with a sigh.

”Boys, I’m not trying to be mean. But there are bigger things at stake here… We’re at the precipice of war, we can’t invite enemy into our home, just because it’s Harry’s birthday—”

” _Okay, how about this_ ”, Remus says loudly, as Harry and Draco both open their mouths to protest once more. ”Harry, we can’t risk inviting Theodore when we know his father is a Death Eater, but how about you invite Blaise and Seamus? — Sirius, I think that’s a good compromise. Neither Cara Zabini or Fiadh Finnegan are affiliated with the Death Eaters—”

”Cara Zabini, the black widow?” Sirius frowns, earning an exasperated look from his husband in return.

”You’re just looking for excuses now!” Harry hollers. ”This is so unfair! These are my _best friends_ , and I haven’t seen them in ages, and it’s my _birthday_ —!”

”Okay, okay”, Sirius snaps. ”Calm down, stop shouting already—”

”I want to invite Blaise and Seamus, and Pansy, and Daphne—”

”Wait, wait, wait, back it up”, Sirius says seriously, straightening up in his chair. ”Pansy? Parkinson? No way—”

”Yes”, Harry insists. ” _Yes_ way!”

”No”, Sirius shakes his head stubbornly. ”Not the Parkinson one, too close to the Malfoys—”

Remus lets out a sigh that is closer to a growl, ”They’re Pureblood families, _they’re all close._ ”

”Well, exactly. That’s why I said no Sly—”

”Sirius.”

”Fine”, Harry snaps. ”Then I want to invite Professor Snape.”

” _What?_ ” Sirius barks.

”Yeah”, Harry says, folding his own arms stubbornly and turning to Remus. ”Daddy, write it down…”

” _Over my dead body!_ ” Sirius hollers.

”Severus Snape”, Harry tells Remus calmly, gesturing with finger towards the guestlist insistently. ”He’s a Slytherin, but he’s also an Order member, so I don’t see it being a safety issue—”

Sirius flies to his feet with such force he knocks the chair back. Harry looks up calmly and meets his furious glare, his mouth set in a stubborn line.

A tense moment of silence passes.

Harry raises his eyebrows expectantly, the line of his mouth pressing together even further.

” _Harry_ …” Sirius growls in warning.

”Dad.”

”Merlin…” Remus sighs softly and leans back in his chair.

He glances over at Draco to see the boy has cringed back in his own chair, his nervous gaze flitting between Harry and Sirius a few times, before flickering over to Remus for reassurance. Remus gives him a small smile and gives his head a tiny, subtle shake.

”Blaise… Seamus… Daphne… Pansy…” Harry speaks slowly and with determination.

Sirius inhales deeply, staring up into the ceiling.

”And Severus Snape.”

”What, now you want to invite Pansy _and Snape?_ ” Sirius snaps.

”Yeah”, Harry says simply.

”You’re not kidding? You’re not just saying you want to invite Snape so I’ll agree to Pansy? _No, Harry_. I don’t want Snape in my house. That’s _final_.”

Harry never expected his dad to actually say yes, but he keeps the stubborn look on his face for a beat longer anyway.

”Fine”, he says finally. ”But I can invite my friends? _All_ my friends — except Theo?”

”All right…” Sirius mutters, righting his chair again with jerky movements that make him seem petulant.

”You really want to invite Professor Snape?” Draco asks curiously.

”Actually, Sirius…” Remus says carefully. ”It’s not a bad idea to—”

”Don’t even”, the other man says.

”Hear me out—”

”No. It’s Snivellus or me—”

”If you would just _listen_ … We could invite the Weasley children, and maybe the Lovegood girl as well, and have an Order meeting at the same time—”

”What?” Harry, Draco and Sirius say as one, Harry adding _Luna_ sceptically while Draco lets out a contemptuous growl that somewhat resembles the syllables in the name _Weasley._

”And if Harry really wants to see Professor Snape”, Remus adds with a diplomatic nod in Harry’s direction. ”He probably won’t want to stay for cake, but I’m sure he’d show up for the meeting at least…”

”You seem very okay with the fact that our son wants Snape at his birthday party”, Sirius grumbles darkly.

”Why wouldn’t I be”, Remus retorts. ”I know that he’s one of Harry’s favourite teachers _and_ I’ve seen first-hand how Severus will go above and beyond to look out for hi—”

”I’m not having this conversation again”, Sirius mutters quietly, cutting him off. ”You want me to be civil to Snape during meetings, fine. But I don’t want to see him more than absolutely necessary, and you and I both know that that feeling is mutual, _and_ I don’t want him here. Not in our house, Moony.”

”Yeah, I don’t know…” Harry says, looking at his daddy uncertainly. ”I mean, I don’t mind you guys inviting the Order, but… I don’t really know Luna that well, I wouldn’t even know what to say to her, it would be awkward…”

”You used to be really close when you were younger”, Remus reminds him gently. ”Besides, it’s a party, you don’t have to talk to every single person… But it was just an idea. Philius isn’t that active in the Order anyway, he normally just shows up to get details for the Quibbler if there’s been some significant news, and there hasn’t really. Not since Karkaroff.”

”So I don’t have to invite her?” Harry says hopefully. ”I don’t mind inviting the Weasleys — oh, and I also want to invite Granger!”

”What?” Draco yelps next to him.

”Please?”

”But — but — _why?_ ” the blonde more or less wails in dismay.

”I don’t know”, Harry shrugs. ”I got to know the other Granger fairly well when I was over there and she was cool, I liked her… But I can’t invite _her_ , so…”

”Fine”, Draco mutters. ”It’s your birthday…”

Harry smiles and leans in for a quick kiss.

”Hey, don’t sulk… neither of you”, he adds pointedly at his dad, who is doing just that.

Remus chuckles, rubbing a hand over his husband’s tense shoulders, then claps his hands together with finality, ”Okay, so we have a guest list!”

”She’s not allowed to bring her O.W.L. results”, Draco pipes up in a small voice.

”What, who isn’t—?” Remus frowns in confusion.

”Granger”, Draco says in an even smaller voice. ”She can’t bring her results.”

Harry guffaws.

”I’m serious”, Draco insists. ”Put it in the invite—”

”It’s a party! Why would she bring—”

”Why? Because she’s Granger. Put a note of it in the invite. _Presents are optional—_ ”

”Says you…”

”— _Leaving your O.W.L. results at home is not._ ”

Harry rolls his eyes fondly, but agrees to include a note of it in the invitation. He exchanges an amused look with his dads, but none of them say anything else about it.

*

For as long as he can remember, Harry has been woken up by _Happy Birthday To You_ being sung very loudly and off key on his birthday. The few exceptions have been those birthdays when the preceding whispers woke him up instead and he stirred, smiling to himself, as his dads hissed conversation filtered through his bedroom door, along the lines of:

— _hold the cake while I —_

_—shhhh you’ll wake him —_

_—okay, ready? —_

_—one, two, three —_

But on the morning of his sixteenth birthday, it’s neither. In fact, it’s not any kind of sound that wakes him up, but rather sensation.

Suddenly, the dream he’d been having of chasing a Snitch through the library, unable to get his broom off the ground, evaporates and he begins to become aware of being in his bed and feeling _extremely good_ in all the best places. Before he’s even opened his eyes, he finds himself moving instinctively, burrowing into the warmth of the embrace, his hips gyrating slowly but eagerly, chasing some kind of friction, his hands fisting silky hair…

He blinks his eyes open, but he still can’t see much so he lets them flutter closed again as hot, wet kisses trail down the side of his neck and continue down his chest.

He moans in pleasure and arches slightly, pulling a little on the hair in his hands. He can hear a muffled hiss coming from somewhere near his belly button, the hot breath sending tingles all the way down to his toes.

The next moan crawling up his throat gets stuck on the way, as he’s engulfed by wet heat and he swears, forcing his hands to let go of the head of hair now moving in fluid motions over his straining cock and fisting the sheets on either side of himself instead, Harry slams his head back into his pillow and arches eagerly off the bed.

Slim, but strong fingers clamp down on his hips and hold him down. Harry’s still sleep-befuddled brain registers very little else after this, other than the bruising grip on his hips and the impossibly hot suction all around him.

The pleasure of the orgasm when he shoots through him, is as strong as it is unexpected and Harry lets out a string of heartfelt expletives, every muscle in his body pulling taut with tension and then releasing again in a trembling wave, taking most of his soul with it by the feels of it.

He slumps bonelessly against mattress and draws a shaky breath into his lungs. His body is still tingling, and he’s barely aware of his glasses being gently places on his face.

”Happy birthday…” Draco says softly, and Harry can’t help but note the slightly hoarse edge to his voice.

”Clearly”, he croaks and blinks his eyes open once more.

Draco is sprawled on top of the lower half of Harry’s body, his head propped up against his arm and grinning happily down at him, with his blonde hair messier than Harry has ever seen it and his lips obscenely red and slick… If he hadn’t just cum, Harry believes he would be rock hard again at the sight.

Suddenly, there is a polite knock on the bedroom door and Harry whips his head around to stare at it in horror.

”Oh Merlin — did they — they weren’t waiting for — please tell me there is a Silencing Charm on this room?” he hisses at Draco, mortified when the boy simply snickers. ” _Draco!_ ”

The blonde keeps snickering, but reaches for his wand on the bedside table, ”Relax… _Finite_ …”

He then swiftly sits up, making sure to pull the duvet up to cover his lap before quickly flattening his hair, then calls out for Harry’s dads to _come in_.

In the next moment, the door swings open and Remus sticks a head in, smiling hopefully. The glow from the candles on top of the chocolate cake levitating just in front of him bounces off his face and makes his eyes glitter even more.

”Is it safe to come in? We’re not interrupting anyth—?”

”No”, Harry says quickly. ”Nothing. Come in, come in. We’re not doing anything.”

Harry’s embarrassment quickly evaporates as he sits all snuggly next to a sleep-tousled Draco and his dads perched at the foot of the bed, a massive chocolate cake hovering in the air between them. He grins and leans forward to blow out the candles, blushing happily when the other three wizards give him a small but heartfelt smatter of applause.

”You’re not singing this year?” Harry asks, looking curiously between his dads.

Remus bites his lip, throwing a furtive glance in Draco’s direction.

”Your daddy thought you might appreciate it if we spared you the embarassment this year”, Sirius explains with a grin.

”Wouldn’t be embarassing for _me_ …” Harry mutters good-naturedly and Sirius lets out a guffaw, completely unfazed by the subtle slight.

”Come on, your presents are in the kitchen…” Remus says and stands up again. ”Draco, will you help me cut the cake?”

”Sure”, the blonde says eagerly.

He scrambles out of the bed and grabs the neatly folded trousers on the desk chair. Sirius gets up from the bed as well, tearing his eyes away from the blonde as he starts to get dressed and gives Harry another grin, ”Coffee?”

”Yeah, be right there!”

Draco pulls a jumper on, making his hair a little messy again. The smile on his face is completely carefree for once and it makes Harry’s stomach flip over to see it.

”Come on, birthday boy…” the blonde leans in to murmurs against Harry’s lips and plants a brief kiss there, before slipping out of the room.

Besides a dozen birthday cards and a handful of small presents, the post also includes an invitation to the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour.

”It’s the day after your party, Harry”, Remus says, then adds to Sirius, ”We might not be able to have an Order meeting after all. I expect the Weasleys will have too much to do in preparation of the wedding…”

”Oh, so the Weasleys can’t come?” Draco asks hopefully.

”Oh, the children will”, Remus says. ”Molly has included a note about it, she says Ron, Ginny, Fred and George are all happy to come to the birthday party.”

”Granger’s coming too”, Harry says, having opened the birthday card from the girl.

”Great…” Draco mutters. ”All’s right with the world then.”

Even though the Order meeting has been cancelled, Harry’s dads have still invited quite a few adults over for his birthday lunch. There is Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid, as well as the Tonks family who Sirius seems particularly excited about. Harry doesn’t remember the older couple at all, but the young witch who introduces herself as Dora just as her hair changes from bright orange to pink, sparks a vague childhood memory.

Harry suspects his dads are trying to make up for his last birthday, which he celebrated with just the two of them. He’d been in a daze for most of it since he was operating on very little sleep and his nerves were completely shot after countless nightmares and a run-in with a Dementor, so he didn’t exactly get to enjoy his birthday. So he does appreciate his dads making a big deal about it this year.

Although, as he was politely shaking hands with Professor Dumbledore and being unexpectedly hugged by Mrs Tonks, he couldn’t help but think he’d been fine with just having his friends over…

Everyone that Harry wanted to invite shows up as well and it’s not nearly as tense between the groups as Harry would have imagined. That being said, it’s still tense enough… The Gryffindors are all huddled together on one side of the room, throwing suspicious looks over at the Slytherins on the other side, who are returning their looks tenfold.

Harry half-heartedly tries to divide his time between the two groups for the first few minutes, but stops when it seems to add to the tension rather than diffuse it. Instead, he suggests they all play a game of Quidditch in the garden.

It turns out to be a good idea, since it gives the tension a focus. Even if it doesn’t necessarily lessen it, at least they get to take it out of the Quaffles and Bludgers, rather than each other.

By the time they’ve all tired themselves out and Remus has called them all inside for lunch and cake, the atmosphere is significantly lighter even though Draco is possessively crowding Harry’s personal space the whole time he attempts to talk to Granger and get to know her better. Harry doesn’t mind that much, but it does make him feel a bit abashed when trying to give the gryffindor girl his undivided attention, and some strands of blonde hair suddenly tickles the side of his face…

_Granger doesn’t seem to mind all that much though,_ he thinks. _If the twitch in her lips is anything to go on, anyway._

Once everyone has had a second helping of cake, Remus smoothly directs the adults in the party to _move things to the kitchen_ , to give Harry and his friends some privacy in the living room. As soon as the door closes behind them, Seamus eagerly claps his hands together and exclaims, ”Okay, finally, we can get this party started!”

Rummaging around in his rucksack, the Irish boy produces two large bottles of firewhiskey with a beaming grin. Draco yelps and immediately scrambles to grab from him.

”Are you insane?” he hisses, trying to wrestle the bottles from the shorter boy, who stubbornly hugs them to hus chest and dodges his flailing arms. ”The adults are right in the next room — Harry’s dads will kill us — _Seamus!_ I’m serious! Put them away—!”

”And how are you going to get the Gryffindors to play spin the bottle sober—?” the other boy counters stubbornly, dodging the clawing movements of the blonde’s hands.

”I’m not”, Draco retorts. ”We’re not playing any childish parlour games! _Give them here!_ ”

Harry watches the two boys roll around the floor for another moment, then exchanges a look with Blaise and Pansy who are both lounging in the sofa opposite him with matching sets of calculating looks on their faces.

”Blaise”, Draco gasps. ”A hand?”

”Well…” Blaise says slowly, his casual tone concealing a note of devious intrigue, matched by Pansy who chimes in with, ”It _could_ be fun…”

”You’re not serious?” Draco says, finally letting go of Seamus and flopping backwards to lean on his hands. ”You want to get pissed with half the Order of the Phoenix in the next room?”

”We wouldn’t get _drunk_ …” Pansy counters in a cajoling tone of voice. ”Just tipsy enough to want to hear one of the lions’ Truths…”

”And now you want to play _Truth of Dare_ drunk with half the Order of the Phoenix in the next room”, Draco huffs. ”What could possibly go wrong…”

”Truth or Dare?” one of the Weasley twins grins. ”Aww, we haven’t played that in _years_ , have we Forge?”

”That was all the rage in Gryffindor when we were, what, in our _Fourth Year_ , Gred?” the other twin joins in. ”Can’t believe anyone still plays—”

The matching sets of grins on their faces quickly falls, when Ron blurts out _What’s Truth or Dare?_ and ruining their ruse.

”It’s a silly parlour game”, Draco mutters.

”It’s not silly—” Pansy argues teasingly.

”It _is_ silly.”

”Well, don’t ask silly questions and it won’t be…” she says with an air of finality.

She leans forward and grabs one of the firewhiskey bottles from Seamus, who readily lets it go. She bites down on the cork and pulls it out with her teeth, then takes a swig before holding the bottle out to Draco with a challenging look.

”No thanks”, he says in a clipped voice, then shoots the Gryffindor side of the room a look. ”I rather keep a clear head…”

Pansy rolls her eyes and takes another swig, then hands the bottle over to Blaise. Seamus eagerly opens the second bottle and takes a couple of swigs as well, before letting the Gryffindors pass it around.

Harry is surprised to see everyone but Granger drink without hesitation. He then remembers partying with the other Granger and how she was all over Pansy at one point… and then Harry had to pull her off of Pike’s lap at the end of the evening to stop her doing something she’d later regret.

_Maybe it’s a good thing if she stays sober,_ he thinks wryly, even as he smiles at the memory.

He instinctively accepts the bottle from Daphne when she hands it to him.

”Harry”, Draco murmurs in warning. ”Your dads will kill you…”

”They’ve been drinking too”, he counters feebly. ”It will be fine!”

He takes a quick swig and passes the bottle on. Ron blinks in surprise, but accepts it. Their fingers brush briefly and Harry can see the other boy’s ears and cheeks go red.

He hears the growl from Draco before he sees him move, but in the next moment the blonde is on his feet and grabbing the bottle from the Gryffindor mid-swig, causing the boy to splutter indignantly and dribble firewhiskey all down his front. Draco’s eyes glitter maliciously, but he’s polite enough to keep a straight face, which Harry appreciates under the circumstances. The last thing he needs is for the two boys to start fighting and cause his dads to come in here to investigate, now that there are two open bottles of firewhiskey being passed around the room.

Draco tilts his head back and Harry feels his own mouth watering as he watches the outline of his Adam’s apple move up and down, as he swallows several mouthfuls of firewhiskey without pause.

”Whoa…” someone mutters quietly.

Harry exchanges a quick look with Pansy. One of the girl’s narrowed eyes give a minute twitch, the Pansy equivalent of a shrug.

Finally the blonde removes the bottle from his mouth and gasps for breath, his chest heaving slightly and his eyes glittering more than ever as he looks defiantly at Ron.

Harry is vaguely aware of the redhead jumping to his feet and grabbing the bottle back, then downing the remaining firewhiskey in some kind of retaliation. But he’s not really paying attention, because he can’t for the life of him stop staring at the sheen of firewhiskey on Draco’s lips…

”Well, then…” Seamus says, taking the empty bottle from Ron and looking between him and Draco curiously as they stand in front of each other in some kind of glaring contest. ”At least now we can play Spin the bottle…”

”I don’t think so”, Draco growls.

”Yeah, I don’t want to play that either…” Pansy says with a grimace. ”I don’t want to get any Gryffindor cooties… No offence.”

Harry throws the girl a sidelong look, the memories of the two End of Year parties in the other world already fresh in his mind. The other Pansy hadn’t seemed all that concerned with ”Gryffindor cooties” when she was plastering herself over Granger on the dance floor and cosying up to her on the floor behind the sofa… He doesn’t think this is the right time or place to be sharing that particular memory with anyone. But he makes a mental note to definitely _let it slip_ later…

The girl grabs the firewhiskey bottle from Daphne and unfolds herself and pushes to her feet in one fluid motion, then lets her calculating gaze slide slowly over the faces of the Gryffindors. She then does a sort of half twirl, resting back on her hip and tapping her lips with her fingertips in mock thoughtfulness, her gaze wandering over to Draco, then Seamus and finally landing on Blaise. She smirks.

”Blaisey…”

The boy rolls his yes and sits up a little straighter.

”Truth or Dare…?”

”Truth”, the boy says in long-suffering voice.

”Never accept a Dare from Pansy”, Daphne murmurs to the Gryffindors as an aside.

But the devilish grin on the girl’s face tells Harry that she wasn’t just expecting Blaise to choose Truth, but she was actively hoping he would. The other boy seems to have come to the same realisation, because he sits up a little straighter, a tiny frown appearing in his normally guarded face.

”Truth you say…” the girl purrs. ”Then tell me this… Have you ever found yourself in a compromising situation… with anyone… in this… room?”

There is a loaded pause when Blaise and Pansy simply stare each other down and everyone else in the room waits for something to happen. Blaise licks his lips, clearly weighing his options and then finally relaxes back into the sofa cusions with a smirk and says, ”Yes.”

Pansy inhales sharply through pursed lips, her eyes glittering excitedly.

”Who?” Ron blurts out eagerly, getting comfortable in the armchair across from where Harry is sitting again.

”More than one?” Seamus pipes up from the floor.

Pansy’s gaze flickers away from Blaise to Ron.

”Patience…” she murmurs, then lets her gaze flit over to Seamus. ”We’ve only just started. And Blaise has given us one Truth already… It’s his turn.”

She hands the bottle to him and he smirks at her, ”You really think I’ll choose Truth again now?”

”I don’t know”, the girl says casually, resuming her seat next to him. ”Traditionally that’s what you tend to choose… But if you want to choose Dare for once, I have five years worth of them lined up.”

Blaise’s smirk immediately falls and there is a hint of fear in his eyes as he gazes over at the girl next to him.

”It’s your go…” she titters innocently.

Blaise seems to silently battle the inner turmoil caused by the girl’s comments for another moment, but then he gazes out in the room.

”Weasley”, he says.

”Which one?” Ginny snaps.

”That one”, Blaise jabs the bottle in the general direction of Ron. ”Truth or Dare?”

”Truth, I guess”, the boy says warily. ”If I don’t want to answer I take a swig? Is that how it works?”

”No, if you don’t want to answer you have to do the Dare.”

The redhead frowns.

”Then what’s the firewhiskey for?” Ginny pipes up, also frowning.

”Liquid courage”, Pansy smirks at them.

”Whatever”, Ron grumbles. ”Truth.”

”You a virgin?”

Ron’s whole face immediately goes red.

”And just to clarify…” Pansy adds in a silky voice. ”In Slytherin we take a more fluid approach to the concept of virginity. Any sexual activity counts, not just heteronormative penetrative intercourse—”

The red in Ron’s face turns from tomato to beetroot and there is a hint of panic in his eyes.

”Dare”, he chokes out.

A chorus of snickers erupt in the room, mostly from the Slytherins. The twins both shoot their little brother a look that is part exasperation and part amusement, while Ginny simply looks embarrassed for him.

”Fine…” Blaise says with a graceful nod. ”Dare it is—”

”Oh come off it”, Ginny protests. ”He’s answered the question!”

”No I didn’t”, Ron splutters, his voice gone up an octave.

”Yeah, Ron, you did”, the girl scoffs. ”It’s nothing to be embarassed about.”

”I didn’t say I was!”

”He answered the question”, Ginny says again, glaring at Blaise. ”Give him the bottle. It’s his turn.”

Blaise shrugs with a smirk and hands the bottle to Ron, who grabs it from him with a scowl and without tearing his glare away from the other boy, he grouses out, ”Truth or Dare?”

Blaise raises an eyebrow, clearly unconcerned. But behind him, Pansy is grinning like a Niffler in a treasure chest.

”Dare”, Blaise retorts in a dead pan version of Ron’s tone, then turns to give Pansy an eye roll.

”Okay… then I dare you to… kiss…” Ron says slowly and Blaise snorts, shaking his head in amusement. ”Every person in this room that you’ve had sex with.”

Blaise freezes, as a chorus of gasps and chortles erupt around him. Pansy and Daphne slap their hands over their mouths and giggle in delight. Harry simply gapes, looking between Ron and Pansy. She is clearly beside herself, her evil plan having worked way better than even she could have imagined… Draco staggers back and slumps down on the floor, looking shocked but also intrigued as he stares between Ron and Blaise.

Blaise just stands there, frozen and staring into space like someone’s Petrified him. He then swallows thickly, and blinks a few times.

”Define… Sex…” he says hoarsely.

”Oh you know”, Ron says darkly. ”Any sexual activity counts. I have a fluid approach to the concept…”

”What, erm…” one of the twins pipes up suddenly. ”What happens if you… er… you know, refuse… if you refuse to answer the Truth, you get a Dare, but… what if you refuse a Dare—?”

Blaise narrows his eyes at him, the insinuation that he would step down from a challenge clearly grating on him. But he still hesitates.

”You can’t”, Pansy says, his voice slightly muffled since her hands are still covering her mouth.

”Why not?” the other twin speaks up.

”Oh shut up”, Blaise growls in an uncharacteristic display of emotion, then swiftly stomps over and grabs the older boys face in a vice-like grip and plants an aggressively determined kiss on his mouth.

The resulting smack of ending the kiss just as suddenly is partially drowned in another chorus of shocked noises and excited squeals and chortles around the room, which then immediately doubles in volume and intensity when Blaise grabs the other twin and plants an equally aggressive kiss on his lips.

Fred or George flails in protest and pulls away in disgust as soon as Blaise steps back again. He’s wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and glaring daggers at the boy, but Blaise seems completely unfazed. His mouth is set in a determined line and his brow is still furrowed. He wheels around and dives straight for Seamus, who also starts flailing, trying to get away…

Blaise catches him by the fabric of his jumper and he twists and turns, ending up sprawled on his back on the floor, spluttering in protest. Blaise straddles him and plants a quick kiss on the side of his mouth, then lets him go roughly and stands up again.

He glares at Pansy and Daphne, who are both staring back at him, their massive eyes glittering above their hands, still slapped against their faces. He takes one step towards them and Daphne immediately recoils into the cushions of the armchair she’s sitting in, leaving one of her hands to cover part of her face and pointing the other one at Blaise as she squeals, ” _That didn’t count!_ ”

”I know”, Blaise grouses, still stalking across the room.

He swiftly bends over Pansy, her delighted squeal immediately muffled by the kiss he plants on her.

Harry is simply gaping in shock at the whole display. _What the… What…_

”Who haven’t you had sex with?” Ron squeaks next to him.

The redhead is still blushing slightly, but the look in his eyes is more impressed than anything. Blaise lets go of Pansy and straightens up, sending the Gryffindor a half-hearted glare. He then slumps down on the sofa next to Pansy, grumbling something quietly to himself. Pansy titters next to him.

”You slept with Seamus?” Draco blurts out incredulously, swaying slightly where he’s sitting crosslegged on the floor, then glaring down at the boy sprawled out on the floor next to him and demands, ” _You slept with Blaise?_ ”

”Barely”, Seamus squeaks and sits up again, but there is an unmistakable rose tint in his cheeks.

”Weasley”, Blaise snaps, his dark eyes boring into Ron across the room. ”Truth or Dare?”

”D—”

”Give Granger a lap dance.”

There is an explosion of noise around the room and Ron reacts so dramatically to the suggestion that he fumbles with the bottle and sprays both himself and Harry with firewhiskey. Harry bolts to his feet, just as the door to the kitchen opens and a wary-looking Remus walks out, clearly intent on investigating the commotion.

The noise immediately dies down and Ron swiftly hides the half-empty bottle behind his back, blushing furiously.

Remus walks across the small hallway and pauses in the doorway to the living room and crosses his arms, his sternest teacher’s look wander over them all.

”Having fun?” he murmurs, gaze finally landing on Harry and his stained shirt.

Harry swallows a groan and blushes.

”A little too much fun?” Remus adds, shooting Harry a knowing look.

”Sorry”, Harry mumbles.

Remus looks over at Seamus and favours him with an equally hard look, ”Firewhiskey?”

The boy deflates a little with an abashed look and nods.

”Any left?”

Ron squirms and the awkwardly pulls his arm out from behind his back, holding the half-empty bottle out with an equally ashamed look. Remus crosses the threshold and walks inside the room, grabbing the bottle from Ron with a look of mild disapproval.

”Sorry”, Harry mumbles again.

Remus simply shoots him a sidelong look, then tells the room at large to keep it down a little, ”We can barely hear each other talk in there…”

He then leaves the room again and disappears back into the kitchen, shutting the door gently behind him. They all exchange surprised and relieved looks, relaxing back into their seats.

”Well…” Blaise says, the first to break the silence. ”Weasley… Off you go.”

A muffled chorus of snickers and suppressed giggles immediately erupt around the room and Ron’s face goes red once more.

Even though Remus had been kind enough to let them continue playing after confiscating the last of the firewhiskey, he clearly didn’t trust them to behave for much longer. Before long, the kitchen door swung open once more and the adults all filtered out, chattering amicably amongst themselves. Harry looks over to see Remus shaking hands with Mister Tonks, and he throws Harry a meaningful look across the man’s shoulder.

”I should go say good bye to people”, he tells the others and gingerly pushes to his feet.

He makes the rounds, shaking hands with the guests and even hugs Andromeda back when she throws her arms around him and exclaims I can’t believe how much you’ve grown in a watery voice. Harry gives her a pinched smile as he pulls out of the hug again, moving over to say good bye to Professor Dumbledore.

”Harry, my boy…” the Headmaster says warmly and twinkles at him. ”Had a good birthday?”

”Yes, Sir…” Harry mumbles, holding his hand out. ”Thank you for coming—”

”Actually, I was wondering if I might have a word…?” the man says, smoothly dodging his offered hand and slipping an arm around Harry’s shoulders instead.

Harry immediately tenses up, but lets the man lead him out into the hallway.

”Harry, I must say, and I hope you’ll forgive me for mentioning it, I don’t mean to embarass you, but I am very pleased and even a little proud at how well you seem to be coping after everything that’s happened…”

”Thank you, Sir”, Harry mumbles. ”Was… Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?”

”No”, Dumbledore says gently, inclining his head. ”I wanted to talk to you about the events leading up to your… recent adventure.”

Harry’s heart start hammering fast and steadily in his chest, but a sense of calm also settles over him like a heavy cloak.

”Yes, Sir?”

”I believe you were lured into to the Department of Mysteries to retrieve a Prophecy for Lord Voldemort, is that right?”

”Yes…” Harry says breathlessly.

He can feel his heart beat pick up the pace, as Dumbledore tips his head forward to gaze steadily at him over the rim of his half-moon glasses, asking calmly, ”But the Prophecy got lost in the ensuing scuffle?”

Harry nods quickly, ”Or when I fell through the portal, I’m not sure… I just remember holding it in my left hand as I was duelling the Death Eaters, and when I woke up in the Hospital Wing… in the other place… it was gone.”

Dumbledore nods gravely, but there is unmistakable twinkle in his eyes.

”Which means we’ll never know what the prophecy said”, Harry continues. ”But dad reckons it’s still good news, because Voldemort won’t know it either…”

”I think you’ll find it’s even better news than that”, Dumbledore says softly. ”You see, Voldemort tried to kill you when you were a child, because of a prophecy made shortly before your birth. He knew of the prophecy, but he did not know its full contents. He set out to kill you, believing he was fulfilling the terms of the prophecy, but discovered, to his own cost, that he was mistaken when the curse intended to kill you backfired…”

_I know all this already,_ Harry thinks impatiently, shifting the weight from one leg to the other, but staying silent.

”So ever since his return to his body, particularly after your extraordinary escape a little over a year ago, he has been determined to hear that prophecy in its entirety. This is the weapon he has been seeking assiduously since his return: the knowledge of how to destroy you.”

”Okay”, Harry says uncomfortably. ”Well, like I said, it’s a good thing the prophecy got lost… then…”

”It is…” Dumbledore agrees calmly, inclinging his head again. ”But the glass sphere that’s been lost was merely a record of the Prophecy, kept with all Prophecies ever made in this country, at the Department of Mysteries… But the Prophecy was made to somebody in the first place and that person has the ability to recall it perfectly.”

”Who heard it?” Harry asks, feeling a small thrill of excitement.

”I did… It was on a cold, wet night, almost seventeen years ago now… I was meeting an applicant for the post of Divination teacher in a small room above the bar at the Hog’s Head Inn here in Hogsmeade… At first, I was disappointed because although this person was the direct descendant of a very famous and gifted Seer, she herself showed no trace of possessing the Gift… But then, as I’d bid the young woman adieu and turned to leave, it happened…”

”What?” Harry frowns, thinking it sounds like the woman faked a prediction in the same way Trelawney fakes predictions of his untimely demise all the time, and that she did so to get this job. ”She made a prediction?”

”She did…” Dumbledore says softly. ”And I strongly feel that this was not just some ploy to hired. Her voice changed. Her eyes clouded over. And, more importantly, afterwards she had no memory of making the prediction at all… Which means that I am the only person to have heard the Prophecy in full.”

”Okay…” Harry says again, mulling the information over.

Dumbledore twinkles at him over the rim of his glasses.

”Would you like to be the second?”

Harry blinks, then nods.

”Very well…” Dumbledore smiles. ”She said, _’The One with the Power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies; and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal—”_

Harry startles, staring at the old Headmaster in shock. As if to illustrate, his scar gives the tiniest of twinges.

”— _but he will have power that the Dark Lord knows not; and either must die at the hand of the other—”_

The muted noises of people chattering in the other room melts away. There is a soft roar in Harry’s ears, like a storm inside his head, drowning all other sounds, except for the low voice of the Headmaster who calmly continues reciting the Prophecy, now fixing Harry with an intense look.

”— _for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born, as the seventh month… dies…”_

Harry sucks a shaky breath into his lungs.

He’s vaguely aware of the sounds of voices filtering back in, but the Headmaster’s voice keep echoing in his head: _either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives._

”I know this must be a lot for you to process, Harry”, Dumbledore murmurs. ”I do hope I haven’t put a damper on yur birthday?”

Harry blinks and focuses on the old man again.

”On a different, though related, subject”, the man continues cheerfully. ”I do believe it’s time for me to take a more active role in your education…”

”What?”

”If you are inclined to indulge me, it is my wish that you should take private lessons with me this year.”

”With — with _you?_ ”

” _Harry?_ ” he hears Remus calling for him.

”What… Will you be teaching me Occlumency, Sir? My scar hasn’t really been hurting at all lately, and I haven’t had a vision since—”

”Ah yes… I suspected that might be the case”, Dumbledore nods. ”You see, Harry, it is my belief that Lord Voldemort has been using Occlumency against you, since he’s become aware of the connection between the two of you.”

”Oh, well, that’s fine with me”, Harry mutters, his hand shooting instinctively to his scar. ”Well, if you want me to learn Legilimency, I should tell you I’m already quite goof, Sir… No offence, but I don’t know if I need any les—”

”I had something else in mind”, Dumbledore cuts him off softly. 

” _Harry?_ ” Harry hears Remus calling for him.

”Like what, Sir?” he asks curiously.

”Oh, a little bit of this… a little bit of that…” Dumbledore says airily and Harry is unsurprised to see the twinkle back in his eyes.

” _Harry!_ ”

” _Over here_ ”, he calls back and in the next moment Remus appears around the corner, looking slightly flustered but doing a fairly good job at hiding it. ”I was just saying good bye to Professor Dumbledore.”

”I see”, Remus says, shooting the Headmaster a wary look. ”Just saying good bye, I presume? Because you already have your answer, right, Albus?”

Dumbledore raises a hand in a placating manner.

”Of course, Remus… I completely respect your wishes… I simply had a different matter to discuss with young Harry, that is all.”

”What matter?” Remus asks immediately.

”I’m sure Harry will tell you… Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I really should be going… Remus, thank you so much for your hospitality, and Harry, again, happy birthday.”

*

”Are you happy?” Draco whispers into the darkness.

Harry beams, hugging the other boy closer. He really is. Even with the persistent voice of Dumbledore echoing at the back of his head… _either must die at the hand of the other…_ in this moment, right here, cuddled up with Draco under the duvet, Harry is perfectly happy.

”Yes…” he whispers back, brushing his lips over the other boy’s in a gentle kiss.

”Are you sure?”

Harry smiles against him and nods.

”I’m sure I can make you happier…”

Harry chuckles, ”Again? I believe it’s my turn…”

”Hmm…” the blonde purrs and Harry can feel him arch up next to him. ”Maybe after…”

He hears the other boy rummage for his wand and efter a mutter Silencio, he feels him begin to move down his body, trailing soft kisses down his chest and belly as he goes.

”Ye-eah”, Harry gasps softly. ”Or we c-could… erm…”

The kisses stop.

”What?” Draco murmurs curiously.

”Erm… We could… At the same time?” Harry suggests hopefully.

There is a loaded pause, then he feels another butterfly soft kiss just below his belly button and he feels more than hears the murmured _good idea_ against his skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I keep putting off the angst... but there will be so much of it, I just want the boys to have a good time first!


	4. A Romantic Setting

Just as they’re about to leave for the Burrow, a couple of Hogwarts owls arrive with Harry’s and Draco’s Hogwarts letters clutched in their beaks. Remus grabs the letters roughly from them and flicks them hastily through the doorway before shutting and locking the door with swift movements.

They’re already running late and Harry, being the main reason for it since he was struggling to get himself out of bed, figures it’s best to keep a low profile. But it hadn’t escape his notice that the letter addressed to him had been bulging just as much as the one addressed to Draco’s and now he’s itching to open it to find out why.

He knows why Draco’s letter would be, of course. The blonde’s new Prefects badge would presumably be inside the envelope along with the letter and book list. But unless Hogwarts had suddenly decided to have two boy Prefects in the same year, Harry’s own envelope would contain something else entirely, to make it bulge like that.

He doesn’t want to jinx it, but there’s only so many possibilities and Flint’s Quidditch Captain badge immediately springs to Harry’s mind.

” _Harry!_ ” Remus snaps, grabbing the fabric of his travel cloak and pulling on him hurriedly, before pushing him towards Sirius. ”You Side-Along with Sirius—”

”Why can’t we take the bik—?”

” _Because we’re already late!_ ” Remus says sharply, a subtle note of hysteria underlining the words as he grabs Draco by the arm and pulls him slightly off balance.

The blonde staggers sideways, but before he trips over Remus has turned on the spot and Disapparated with him.

”Come on, Harry”, Sirius says in a long-suffering voice.

Harry links his arm with his dad and they Disapparate as well. It’s over in the blink of an eye, as Apparation always is, but Harry can tell from the way his stomach churns and his chest pinches that they’ve travelled quite far — a lot farther than he’s used to — and he doubles over to catch his breath.

Sirius claps him on the back.

”You going to be sick?” he asks conversationally.

” _No_ …” Harry gasps, even as he’s waiting for his stomach to settle and it could go either way.

But gradually the nausea subsides.

”No”, he says again and actually means it. ”I’m okay.”

He straightens up with a deep breath and looks around curiously. They’re standing in the middle of nowhere. Technically, he supposes, they’re standing in a large field with an equally large forest next to it.

But apart from the one, solitary house at the far end of the field, there doesn’t seem to be much of a civilisation.

”There’s a village just over there, passed the trees”, Sirius points. ”Ottery St Catchpole, an old fishing village…”

Harry follows Sirius gaze to the forest, then turns back to the house. And he’d thought moving to Hogsmeade was moving to the countryside…

”That’s the Burrow”, Sirius nods towards the house and claps him on the shoulder again. ”Come on… Remus will be ready to implode right about now…”

Remus and Draco are waiting for them at the edge of the field and as Sirius had predicted, the older wizard is an obvious bundle of nerves, his body language jittery with restlessness. He keeps looking over his shoulder at the massive marquee that’s been set up next to the winding old house.

As they get closer, Harry can see that the ground level part of the house is made of stone, but the extra rooms added to it are made of wood. It’s several storeys high and extremely crooked, emitting little puffs of smoke from the five different chimneys sticking out of the red roof.

” _Merlin’s beard_ …” Remus whispers in exasperation. ”Come _on_ , you two… The ceremony is about to _start_ …”

He stalks over towards the marquee and Harry can see Ron and the twins standing just outside the opening. When Remus reaches them, Ron’s face goes red and he smiles nervously in greeting before gesturing for Remus to follow, then hurriedly scurries inside.

With matching blushes breaking out in their faces, Fred and George mumble _’lo_ in unison when Harry, Draco and Sirius approach. One of them immediately springs to action and gestures vaguely with what looks like a floor plan, ”I’ll show you to your seats…”

He leads them inside the marquee where hundreds of golden chairs have been set up on either side of the purple aisle and points them to three empty ones next to where Remus is already seated. Sirius gently squeezes passed Harry and Draco to sit next to his husband. Harry follows suit, leaving the aisle seat for Draco so he won’t have to sit next to anyone but Harry.

The makeshift room is decorated with an abundance of white and golden flowers. Candles and fairies are floating around just below the tarpaulin ceiling, swerving this way and that in time to the gentle piano music.

In the next moment, he sees the three Weasley brothers take their own seats further up the aisle, confirming Remus’s suspicion that they’d been the last to arrive. He can see Granger sitting in the same row, presumably Ron’s date for the day. Next to her, Mister and Mrs Weasley are sitting along with an old, grumpy-looking witch.

He glances around curiously to see if there is anyone else from school here and is mildly surprised to see several familiar faces, mostly teachers, like Professor Dumbledore, but there are one or two students there as well.

Luna Lovegood is wearing some kind of golden tent and dangling from her ears are a pair of bright purple turnips by the looks of it. Amazingly enough, her outfit looks rather pedestrain next to the colourful display of the man sitting next to her. Harry assumes it must be Luna’s father, Xenophilius Lovegood, the editor of The Quibbler.

He’s aware of the sidelong look Draco throws him and knows the blonde must have spotted the pair as well. He avoids meeting his gaze, for fear of bursting out into giggles and embarrassing his dads.

The music changes and there are ripples of excitement in the small crowd. In the next moment, Bill Weasley and his younger brother Charlie, walk down the aisle to stand next to the Ceremony Official, a tufty-haired little wizard with deep set, glittering eyes. Exchanging a happy grin, the brothers turn to gaze down the aisle expectantly.

Harry turns to see Ginny Weasley and another girl, both wearing matching gold dresses, come ambling down the aisle. After them, Fleur is lead by the arm by an older wizard Harry assumes must be her father and he can see where Fleur gets her good looks… The older wizard a very handsome man, with sharp green eyes and thick, blonde hair.

The ceremony itself is rather sweet, Harry thinks. The couple make their vows as the Ceremony Official showers them with glittering stars and at the end of it, the golden balloons they’ve both been holding burst into tiny golden bells and birds of paradise that start zooming around the marquee singing happily. Harry joins in with the enthusiastic applause and grins.

Draco gives him an amused look, clapping his own hands politely but not nearly as enthusiastically as everyone else.

”What?” Harry murmurs, still beaming. ”It was a cool ceremony!”

The blonde’s lips twitch in amusement, but he says nothing.

On a silent cue, all the wedding guests push to their feet and start milling around, taking turns to congratulate the newlyweds while they wait for the chairs to be magicked away and replaced by a dance floor surrounded by little round tables. A handful of waiters appear carrying trays of food and drink, just as the band begins to play a merry waltz.

”Want to dance?” Harry asks Draco hopefully.

He’s keenly aware that it would be the first time in their lives that they dance together. The last opportunity they had, during the Yule Ball, was taken from them by Draco’s parents demanding discretion from him. Which is probably why the idea of dancing with Draco now, in public and in such a romantic setting, feels like a monumental moment for Harry. _Because Draco has chosen… me…_

Draco gives him a knowing, warm look and nods, but says, ” _After_ … We need to congratulate the couple and thank their parents first.”

Harry blinks in surprise, _Oh, do we?_

” _Thank you,_ Draco”, Remus murmurs fondly, looking between the two of them. ”Finally I’m not the only one in the family to care about etiquette…”

He gives them both a teasing wink and drags Sirius over to the newlyweds, completely missing the shocked expression on Draco’s face, that immediately morphs into some kind of wistful joy. Harry doesn’t need to ask him what the look is about, because he already knows: Remus just called him _family_.

Harry smiles and reaches out for the other boy’s hand.

_You are,_ he thinks. _You definitely are._

Leading the blonde by the hand through the small crowd, Harry’s insides are a flurry of happy movement. Letting Draco do most of the talking, Harry is barely even aware of Fleur or the Weasleys’ until Mrs Weasley envelops him in a massive bear hug that smells of lavender and cake icing.

As soon as Harry has got away, he feels Draco’s arms snake around his waist and discreetly pull him into his chest. Harry gratefully leans back into the embrace, smiling as her rests his own arms on top of Draco’s.

”Come on, you”, Draco murmurs teasingly in his ear. ”You owe me a dance…”


	5. Music, memories and monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One tune seamlessly moprhs into another and evenutally Harry tucks his head under Draco’s chin, resting his cheek against the other boy’s collarbone and listening to the beat of his pulse happily as they continue to sway together to the music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you're all keeping safe and positive.

Before Harry has really registered what’s happened, he’s pulled slightly off balance and immediately caught again, steadied between one of Draco’s hands on the small of his back and the other holding one of Harry’s own in a firm grip. The blonde proceeds to spin them both around with confidence, startling a gasp out of Harry who clambers to link his free arm around the taller boy’s shoulders and focus all of his remaining energy on not tripping over his own feet.

The experience is similar to the Yule Ball in that Harry had felt like he had very little control over his own legs and where he was going then too, when Ron, just like Draco, had confidently taken the lead. The difference is that, within seconds of Draco grabbing him, Harry stops feeling like he might fall over at any moment and take his dance partner down with him. At the Yule Ball, although Ron managed to keep them both upright despite Harry’s stumbling steps and flailing arms, that feeling of _almost falling_ never really went away. But Draco’s hold is secure, his movements controlled. Harry knows this is probably because he’s not actively trying to make Harry laugh, like Ron was at the Yule Ball. But part of it could also be that they’re both more secure holding the other this close.

Finally daring to look away from his own feet, Harry lifts his head and gazes up into Draco’s face. The silver of the blonde’s eyes are peppered with the reflection of a hundred golden lights, making them glitter more than Harry has ever seen before and with no real prompt from Harry’s own consciousness, his face splits open. Draco smiles back warmly and slows down their pace. Slowly but deliberately he lets go of Harry’s hand and lets both arms encircle Harry’s waist instead. Harry immediately lets his free hand join his other behind Draco’s neck, eagerly allowing himself to be pulled closer.

One tune seamlessly moprhs into another and evenutally Harry tucks his head under Draco’s chin, resting his cheek against the other boy’s collarbone and listening to the beat of his pulse happily as they continue to sway together to the music. Draco rests his own head on top of Harry’s and Harry feels more than hears the happy sigh that escapes him.

When Sirius sidles up to them and interrupts their dance with a gentle hand on top of Harry’s shoulder, he’s completely lost track of time and the number of songs that the band has played since he and Draco started dancing. Blinking his eyes open, Harry is surprised to see the dark orange of the sky, realising the sun will begin to set in less than an hour.

Sirius grins at him knowingly and he gives his shoulder a gentle clap.

”Come on, runt, it’s time to get going…”

Harry reluctantly steps back from Draco and nods. He feels one of the blonde’s hands trail down the side of his arm and grab his hand. He shoots him a happy smile, interlacing their fingers together.

Remus is watching them with misty eyes when they join him outside the marquee.

”We can stay a bit longer if you want…”

”Moony”, Sirius huffs with a look that is half exasperation and half amusement.

”I know what I said”, Remus mumbles in a rush, blushing. ”It _is_ getting late. But a few more _minutes_ won’t hurt—”

”It’s okay, Remus. We should get home and start dinner…” Draco says softly, glancing over at Harry. ”Harry, you must be starving by now — and I’m getting hungry, too.”

Harry says nothing, but smirks a little to himself. Draco hasn’t been struggling with his food nearly as much in the past year, but he merely eats as much as he needs, when he needs to, Harry knows. It’s never because he’s hungry or in the mood for anything in particular. He only eats because it’s mealtime and he’s grudgingly accepted the fact that he needs the regular sustenance.

”Okay”, Remus nods. ”Yes, okay. Let’s get going then!”

Harry Side-Alongs with Sirius again and when they land in the garden outside Creirwyn’s Hollow, Sirius lingers next to him as he doubles over, leaning his hands against his knees while waiting for his stomach to settle back down.

”You okay there, runt?” Sirius asks softly and he nods quickly.

They both watch Draco follow Remus insde the cottage, presumably to help him cook, the blonde’s new favourite passtime ironically enough. He might not love to eat, but he loves to cook. Harry sucks in a deep breath and straightens up.

”Yeah… Yeah, I’m okay…”

On an unspoken agreement, the both of them drag their feet as they start to amble towards the cottage. Sirius shoves his hands into his pockets and eventually comes to a stop below the small step outside the front door. He twists his body around and gazes out over Hogsmeade thoughtfully. Harry gives him a curious look, then turns to follow his gaze.

The sun is beginning to set behind hills in the distance, silhouetting Hogwarts which can be seen behond the rooftops of the the nearest buildings.

”Did you have a good time today?” Sirius asks suddenly, startling Harry out of his own reverie.

He whips his head back around to look at his dad, but the older man keeps his gaze resolutely pinned to the horizon with the same pensiveness from before.

”Yeah”, Harry said. ”A very good time.”

Sirius nods thoughtfully, a tiny smile flickering onto his face. Finally, he turns his head to meet Harry’s eyes, his smiling growing slightly.

”Good.”

Harry frowns in confusion as the man claps a hand down on his shoulder, then mumbles something about _giving the others a hand_ and disappears inside the cottage.

Harry is sure he must have missed something, but it wouldn’t be the first time his dad gets into a weird mood for reasons known only to himself. Most of the time, Sirius is a carefree, happy-go-lucky kid of an adult, with minimal impulse control and, despite struggling to put his feelings into words, heart on his sleeve. But there are the occasional moments when Harry and Remus gets to see the dark side of him; sometimes he’ll sink into a heavy mood and pull away from them both until it’s passed and sometimes he’ll be gripped by a more wistful mood, usually when something has reminded him of his time as a student, or James and Lily. Harry isn’t sure what he’s feeling in these moments, but he knows it’s not exactly sadness. It’s more like melancholy.

He follows the man inside the house and as soon as he’s stepped through the door, the hint of worry he’d felt for his dad falls off him again as the sounds of cooking and chatting can be heard from the kitchen. _The sound of home_.

When Harry walks into the kitchen, Sirius has just finished setting the table and slumps down in his usual seat. Harry joins him and exchanges a surprised look with him, before turning back towards the stove. Remus is hovering by Draco’s shoulder, watching the younger man single-handedly prepare dinner with only a few words of encouragement by the sounds of it.

Harry smiles happily, watching his boyfriend expertly moving around the kitchen. Remus tastes the sauce he’s made and hums in delight, murmuring a word of praise that makes Draco beam proudly.

If Harry had been helping with dinner, he’s sure the man would be itching to take over, Harry thinks.

He turns back to Sirius, who glances at him with a knowing smirk. But when dinner has been served, Sirius makes a show of enjoying his first bite, nodding blissfully to himself before sending Draco a genuine grin. The blonde blushes and smiles back, then turns to look at Harry hopefully.

Harry burns the roof of his mouth in his hurry to taste the food on his plate just so he can gush about it as well, but if anyone notices, they’re kind enough not to say.

_And it was well worth it,_ Harry thinks as he sips his water, watching the beaming, carefree look on his boyfriend’s face, the memory of it being pale and streaked with tears still uncomfortably fresh in his mind.

_Not anymore,_ Harry thinks happily. _And never again, if I can help it._

The mood is swiftly deflated when Remus brings up Harry’s conversation with Dumbledore the night before and judging by the apologetic look he gives Harry, the man is aware of it. But he still wants to know what the Headmaster had wanted to discuss with Harry, a hint of his worry line appearing between his eyebrows.

Harry sighs, then begins talking. He knows there’s no point in sugar-coating anything, so he simply ploughs through everything that he remembers Dumbledore telling him, more or less verbatim. Then finishes by reciting the prophecy about himself and Voldemort.

He’s somewhat perplexed when neither of his dads seem remotely shocked and wonders if maybe they’ve heard it before…

_Dumbledore said he was the only person who knew the full prophecy and if he told it to me, only two people in the world would have heard it,_ Harry thinks.

But his dads, who are both on the over-protective side at the best of times, seem uncharacteristically calm considering he’s just told them it’s going to have to be him that defeats Lord Voldemort… _Not that I haven’t faced Voldemort before and got away unscathed,_ Harry thinks. _But this is different… Isn’t it?_

Remus is watching him thoughtfully, and finally opens his mouth to speak, slowly asking Harry what he thinks the prophecy means. Harry frowns in confusion.

”Well it… That I have to go after Voldemort… Right?”

Sirius lets out a muffled noise and gives him an incredulous look, while Remus simply stares at him with a decidedly exasperated glint in his eyes.

”What?” Harry demands.

”No, Harry—” Remus starts, but is immediately cut off by an outraged Sirius who exclaims, ”Harry! Voldemort has regained his powers already. He’ll reveal himself any day now — and _you’re just a boy!_ What makes you think anyone expects you to go off and _fight him_ —?”

”That’s what Dumbldore sa—”

”Well he’s wrong”, Remus growls, accidentally snapping off the handle from the tea cup he’s holding.

” _We_ have to defeat Voldemort”, Sirius says slowly. ”Or he’ll come after you to try and finish the job he started fifteen years ago. That is _all_. The prophecy says it’s you or him—”

”No it literally said I’m the only one who can kill him” Harry retorts. ”That’s what Dumbledore said anyway. He said, _one will have to die at the hand of the other_ —”

Sirus shoots Remus an uncomfortable look, ”Listen Harry… You just need to focus on school and staying out of trouble, okay? And leave Voldemort and the Death Eaters to The Order. Understand?”

”Yeah”, Harry nods.

_It’s not like I_ want _to have to fight him again,_ he thinks, his mind flashing back to the last time he was forced to come face to face with the barely human wizard; he shivers thinking about the skeletal, almost serpentine face of his nightmares, with its burning, red eyes…

Yes, he’s faced him several times and got away. But each time he’s only done so because of a combination of insane luck and the protective magic of others. Harry is under no delusions that his own powers and skills are even close to a match for someone like Voldemort.

_Not now, anyway,_ he thinks.

_But, if I’m the only one who_ can _kill him, the Order might only be able to weaken him like before… And I might have to finish him off in the future… Which means… I’ll still have to commit murder._

”Harry…” Remus murmurs and he looks up again. ”It is _not your job_ to defeat Voldemort.”

Harry nods, ”Yeah, I heard you.”

Remus glances between him and Draco and hesitates.

”I _heard_ you”, Harry repeats. ”I’m not going to do anything reckless and stupid. I don’t _want_ to fight anyone.”

Remus nods seriously, but glances at Draco again. Sirius is watching him silently, putting a comforting arm around his shoulders.

”If…” Remus says slowly. ”Things get… _bad_ , if there _is_ a second war…”

”It might not come to that”, Sirius says quickly, giving his husband’s shoulders a reassuring jostle.

”It’s not going to be easy”, Remus continues, looking between Harry and Draco. ”You’re just kids, no-one is expecting you to fight. Not now, not yet. But _we_ … might have to. So it’s even more important that you stay safe, because _that_ is going to give us the strength we need to fight this war. Because _that’s what we’re fighting for…_ Do you understand?”

”Yes”, Draco says immediately and Harry looks over at him, feeling a pinch in his chest at the stoic mask that’s replaced the open, carefree look from before.

”It might not come to that”, Sirius says again, his casual tone slightly exaggerated. ”Why don’t you boys open your Hogwarts letters, eh? I thought they looked awfully thick myself. Why don’t we find out why?”

Draco’s new Prefect badge falls out of the envelope when he rips it open and Harry gives him a smile, gingerly getting a finger into the corner of his own envelope and ripping it open. He’s not surprised to see the Quidditch Captain badge glint back at him, but pleased all the same. He tilts the envelope and lets it fall out into his open hand, holding it out for his dad to inspect.

Sirius immediately begins to fuss about it proudly and Harry shoots Draco a smirk, barely refraining from rolling his eyes. But Draco seems to have been swept up by Sirius’ excitement, because he’s looking between the Captain’s badge and Harry’s face, beaming proudly at him.

” _I knew you’d get it_ ”, he gushes happily. ”This is awesome, you’ll have the same priviledges as us Prefects now!”

”I get to use the Prefects’ bathroom on the fifth floor?” Harry asks hopefully.

He nearly slaps his hands over his face when Draco immediately turns rose pink, even as he replies airily. Harry resolutely avoids looking at both of his dads and starts blabbering about quidditch as soon as the blonde trails off, just to keep any potentially awkward silence at bay.

Finally Remus interrupts him, suggesting he should put his animagi studies on hold if he’s going to be very busy this year.

”What, no!” Harry protests, genuniely forgetting about his embarassment. ”I’m halfway through the process, I can’t stop now! I’ll have to start over if I do—!”

”Oh, all right…” Remus mutters, pushing himself to his feet to serve everyone coffee and pudding. ”But if it gets to be too much for you, you’ll have to. It’s that, or give up Quidditch—”

An involuntary noise of disgust escapes Harry and he gives the man an outraged look.

”I thought as much…” Remus mumbles with a knowing smirk.

”Well, it won’t be too much”, Harry insists, even as he remembers Dumbledore mentioning giving him private lessons.

He glances over at his daddy to find him staring back at him with a knowing look, but he says nothing. Harry ducks his head, feeling a twinge of something in his stomach. Sirius seems genuinely unaware of their silent exchange, because he keeps chatting away about Quidditch happily and, Harry swallows a tired sigh, he’s already drawn the parallel to James.

It’s not that Harry begrudges his dad the opportunity to reminisce about his best friend, it’s really not like that. _But does he have to keep comparing us like that?_ he thinks sullenly. _I’m not James._

”…Fifth Year, and wouldn’t you know it, he was a natural — just like you, Harry, _insane_ reflexes —”

Harry frowns, tuning in to what Sirius is saying properly.

”Wait, did you say… Fifth Year?”

Sirius blinks, the traces of his beaming grin still clearly visible around the edges of his face as he turns back to Harry.

”James became a Seeker in Fifth Year?” Harry repeats.

Sirius nods happily, ”When they made him Captain! He said he chose to become Seeker, because it just made more sense during training practise, because as a Seeker he could just observe the others without it affecting any game strategies—”

”Yes, but—”

”—but I know he secretly wanted to be Seeker all along. He told me once, back in First Year. He tried out for Seeker every year a well, but Bickering kept insisting she needed him as Chaser. So as soon as she graduated and James was made Team Captain, obviously he made himself Seeker — and he turned out to be a natural at that too! We were all astonished, and a little envious — weren’t we Moony?” Sirius turns to the other man excitedly.

Remus gives his husband an indulgent smile and nods in agreement.

Harry says nothing, just sinks back into his own thoughts. A small, insistent part of him is itching to rebel against anything and everything that has to do with him following in James’ footsteps, to separate himself from the memory of his birth father and distinguish himself from his dad’s memory of his best friend. But he can’t distance himself from this particular footstep. He’s dying to dive back into Quidditch. Even though he was never officially banned from Quidditch in the past year, Umbridge worked really hard to keep him from actually playing, schedulling all his torturous detentions for when his team was practising.

”—don’t think I asked him. Harry, do you know?”

Harry blinks, tuning back into what his dad is saying.

”What?”

”The other Harry, from the other dimension, world, whatever — do you know if he was Seeker as well?”

”Erm… I… I dunno”, Harry mumbles.

For some reason, the mere mention of the other reality and the other Potter, who had insiduously insinuating his way into Harry’s life and replaced him for weeks, makes something inside Harry’s chest contract painfully.

”He was”, Draco pipes up.

Harry feels the recently hatched monster in his belly begin to stir, coiling into a tight, tense ball… _waiting_ …

”I think I’m going to go to bed”, he mumbles, getting to his feet and avoiding everyone’s gaze.

”You okay, Harry?” Remus asks him, a hint of worry in his voice and Harry nods wordless. ”It’s only half nine—?”

”I’m just tired”, Harry mutters. ”G’night…”

He’s not surprised when Draco joins him in bed within minutes of him curling up under the duvet. But it’s not until the other boy hugs him from behind and Harry feels himself go limp in the embarce, that Harry realises how tense he’d been.

”You sure you’re okay?” the other boy murmurs quietly into the back of his neck.

Harry nods, draping his arm over the back of Draco’s and giving his hand a grateful squeeze before shuffling around to face him.

Draco is peering at him through the gloom, but Harry can’t make out his features without his glasses on.

”Did you…” he starts, but immediately cuts himself off again.

”What?” Draco prompts, and although his voice is still soft and gentle, Harry thinks he can sense a bit of wariness at the edges.

”Nothing, never mind”, he says quickly.

”No, say it.”

”I was just — it doesn’t really matter — but because we were talking about the other — about Potter — I was just thinking, you know, if you and him — did you do anything?” Harry stutters out, feeling his face flush and quickly shakes his head again. ”Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”

”Yeah”, Draco says quietly.

”Okay, yeah”, Harry nods quickly, his face swiftly going from hot to cold. ”I understand—”

The monster rears up, baring its’ teeth.

”Before I knew the truth, though. When I thought he was you”, Draco says and there’s an urgency to his voice now. ”Harry, I swear I didn’t know it wasn’t you—”

”Yeah, okay, I… I understand…” Harry says, even as the monster thrashes its head to and fro, its jaws opening and shutting again in agitation, the _click_ of imaginary fangs slamming together echoing throughout Harry’s mind.

A tense silence spreads out between them. Harry takes a deep breath, willing the monster to _settle down_.

”Harry, I swear…” Draco murmurs quietly.

_Down boy,_ Harry tells his own furious mind wryly, then tells Draco earnestly, ”I _do_ understand…”

”I swear I had no idea, he looked just like you”, Draco says in a small voice. ”It wasn’t until after… after _that_ , that I… I started noticing the differences… little things, that just didn’t add up. By the end of the week, I couldn’t believe I’d ever thought he was you in the first place, but… I really did…”

Harry swallows and nods, reaching out to give the other boy’s hand a gentle squeeze.

”What about you, did you…?”

”No”, Harry shakes his head. ”I tried to — when we first met — I went to hug and kiss him, but he recoiled. Broke my heart at the time, when I thought it was you.”

He pushes a dry chuckle out of into the space between them and it leaves his throat feeling raw.

”When did you realise? That it wasn’t me?”

”Oh, the next time I saw him it was obvious. He’s not like you at all. I mean, a little bit, I suppose. The way you can be in public sometimes, that’s how he was… like, all the time…” Harry says, even as the memory of dancing really close with the blonde flickers to his to mind’s eye.

_But Draco doesn’t need to know about that,_ he thinks.

”Oh… Guess you’ve been a bigger influence on me, than I have on you…”

”Hey — the other Harry sounds like a right loser! What are you trying to say?” Harry demands good-naturedly.

”He wasn’t a _loser_ ”, Draco protests, joining in with Harry’s attempt at light-hearted teasing. ”Just not as sensitive as you. That was the only difference, really.”

”Yeah, I think he might have had a rough childhood. Those muggles…” Harry trails off with an exaggerated shudder and he’s relieved to feel the other boy relax a little more next to him.

_Good. Now let it go,_ he tells himself. But the monster inside him has other ideas; it’s still coiling tensely in the pit of his stomach, still grinding its’ teeth, still _hungry_ …

”Did you do more than kiss?” Harry blurts out before he can stop himself.

He’s dismayed when Draco doesn’t immediately reassure him, but instead lets out a heavy sigh. The monster immediately rears up again.

”So you had sex with him”, Harry says bitterly. ”Hands, mouths, what—?”

”Harry”, the blonde says in a small voice. ”I really don’t want to talk about it, I just want to forget it ever happened.”

_Rip, tear, kill, kill, KILL_

”Please?” Draco implores.

Harry imagines the taste of blood in his own mouth and swallows several times.

”Sure”, his voice slithers out of him like it’s the easiest thing in the world, like everything really _is_ fine.

_And maybe it is,_ Harry thinks numbly, even as the monster keeps thrashing against the inner wall of him, screaming for blood.

”Sure, let’s forget about it.”

His smile feels weird on his face, but he keeps it there anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the rest of this story (alternative version of book six and seven) plotted out. But I am posting as I go, so if anyone reading this in real time has any thoughts or request, I will take your comments into consideration. 
> 
> On that note, I have a question for you: I want to incorporate more mental health/illness awareness as a peripheral theme in this fic as the angst gets worse, since that is something very important to me and something I’m advocating for in my personal life… How do everyone feel about that? 
> 
> I know that Draco’s eating disorder was a bit triggering for some readers even though it was only mentioned briefly here and there, so I’ve already decided to not going to go into much detail about that even though it will continue to be a feature in Draco’s character arc. I have also touched on Harry’s issues and hinted at PTSD after the Triwizard cup already, and that is something I’d like explore further. 
> 
> Without stealing too much focus from actual plot or the relationship between the boys, I want to address the emotional and mental effects that everything (should realistically) have on Harry and Draco — but I also want to make sure my readers are okay, so if there is anything in particular that would be *too* triggering, please let me know.
> 
> (I can promise right now though, that neither boy will be doing any kind of self harm besides what we’ve seen already, i.e. eating and sleeping)
> 
> Thanks you xx
> 
> Here's to a healthy, happy, inspired 2021 <3


	6. Home

In the next few days, Harry carefully goes through the motions of everyday life, maintaining his new, stiff smile throughout so as not to reveal his inner turmoil to Draco and his dads. But he probably doesn’t need to bother, considering they’re all so preoccupied with their own worries to really notice.

Draco is clearly nervous about returning to Hogwarts. Although they haven’t even started any of their classes yet, he’s already revising and the closer they get to the end of August, the more compulsive his reading gets. Harry is half-dreading the moment when he’ll start pushing the food around on his plate as well, but so far he’s sticking to his strict regime of ingesting the exact amount of nourishment needed for a person his age and size, as stated by Madame Pomfrey. If anything, his detemination to get through each meal makes him shovel the food down faster than normal.

Remus’ staggering anxiety leaves the cottage perpetually smelling of chocolate, as he alternates between baking and snacking by ways of a coping mechanism and Harry knows he’s also nervous about the two of them leaving Creirwyn’s Hollow to return to Hogwarts.

But more immediately, he’s agonising over how they’re to get all their school supplies without visiting Diagon Alley. Sirius, currently the most level-headed of the four of them, has been reassuring him that they’ll be fine, claiming they’ll be safer in the midst of Diagon Alley than they are walking between the cottage and the Three Broomsticks.

The last time he said it, Remus shot him a filthy look and told him if he feels that strongly about the dangers of Hogsmeade Main, he can stay home from now on.

Sirius hasn’t interjected again since.

”It’s not too late to get your books by owl order”, Remus mutters for the umpteenth time.

Harry throws Sirius a pleading look, but the other man simply stares back at him apologetically, a slightly pained grimace on his face.

”Even if they don’t get here until the 2nd, we can just have them delivered at the castle — you won’t need them until the 2nd anyway—”

Harry and Sirius are still engrossed in a silent argument over who’s turn it is to speak some sense into Remus, so they’re both pleasantly surprised when Draco pipes up, ”What about our morning classes, Remus?”

”Yes, I know”, Remus says heavily and sighs. ”I suppose there’s nothing for it… We’ll have to go.”

”Really?” Harry says happily, sitting up a little straighter.

”Calm down, meerkat”, Remus mutters, but his lips twitch a little. ”But yes, I think we’ll have to. But I do think you’ll have to borrow Harry’s Invisibility Cloak, Draco. I don’t want to advertise your whereabouts more than necessary…”

The blonde nods in understanding.

”So apart from inside Gringotts, I want your word that you’ll stay hidden under the Cloak”, the older man adds seriously, pinning Draco with a stern look.

”What about inside Madam Malkin’s?”

”No”, Remus immediately starts shaking his head. ”No, that’s too dangerous—”

”But I’ve grown like five more centimetres this summer—!”

”That can’t be helped”, Remus insists stubbornly. ”Draco, you’ll be entirely exposed in that shop—”

”My dress robes barely even covers my knees—!”

Remus lets out an impatient huff and waves a dismissive hand at Draco’s exclaimation, ”It’s not like you _need_ dess robes; there’s no Yule Ball this year—”

” _I’ve outgrown my school robes as well…_ ”

Harry unconsciously holds his breath as his daddy and boyfriend fall silent finally, looking between the two of them curiously, wondering who will be the first to break their stubborn eye lock and concede.

Remus huffs out another breath.

”Really?” he mutters, looking decidedly pained when Draco nods earnestly. ”Oh… _Fine_ … Gringotts and Madam Malkin’s — _but that is all._ ”

Draco eagerly nods his head and beams.

”I mean it”, Remus insists, pointing a finger first at the blonde and then rounding on Harry with the same determination. ”No wandering about, no checking out the newest brooms, no saying hi to your friends, no ice cream—”

”Merlin, Remus…” Sirius mutters good-naturedly. ”Why don’t you call off Christmas while you’re at it—?”

Remus pulls himself up tall in his seat, reminding Harry of Hedwig when she ruffles her feathers in indignation. He quickly covers his mouth with a hand to hide his grin at the image.

”No it’s okay”, Draco says quickly, before either of the older men has a chance to say anything else. ”It’s more than okay. I don’t mind at all.”

Remus deflates a bit again, but there’s still a certain amount of noticable tension in his shoulders for the rest of the evening and it’s still there in the morning when Harry and Draco enter the kitchen for breakfast.

”…’s fine”, the mumbled tail end of his reassurance to Sirius, quickly morphs into a tired greeting, ”Morning boys! Coffee is ready — can I make you some eggs?”

”I’ll make it, Remus”, Draco says hurriedly. ”You sit, finish your breakfast.”

Harry watches their exchange silently and slides into his usual seat at the table. His daddy looks worse for wear, but for once it’s not the full moon’s fault. Harry double checked the lunar calendar before bed the night before and it’s almost a week left before the next. That means his daddy should be starting to feel the pull, but he shouldn’t feel run down until the next couple of days.

Sirius must be noticing the premature exhaustion in his husband too, because he leans a little closer to him as if unconsciously readying himself to physically prop him up should he suddenly topple over, and there’s a worried glint in his eyes as well, Harry sees.

”How about you take Hagrid with you?” the older man murmurs.

”I thought we were supposed to be be inconspicuous”, Remus counters kindly and gives the man a tired smile. ”It’s fine, Pads. We’ll be fine. They’re not little boys anymore—”

”I know”, Sirius says, glancing at Harry and giving him a subtle wink.

”—and I’m not completely useless myself.”

”Hey, I never said—!”

”I’m fine”, Remus says again, a sharp edge to his voice now that spills into his eyes. ”I just didn’t sleep well. It happens. But I’m more than capable of defending the boys if it should come to that—”

”I know”, Sirius says again. ”But it won’t. Not even the most dim-witted Death Eater would be so stupid as to attack in the middle of Diagon Alley in broad dayligt. Not now. Not when they’re clearly trying very hard to keep their master’s return under wraps—”

”Well, if they _were_ going to reveal themselves, an attack on Harry Potter in Diagon Alley in broad daylight _would be_ a very dramatic way to go about it…” Remus mutters quietly, then raises his voice imperceptibly again. ” _But that’s not going to happen!_ ”

Sirius, who clearly hadn’t thought of it from that angle, is suddenly looking less convinced of the whole plan and blinks at his husband. But he says nothing.

Draco joins them at the table, putting a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Harry and starts cutting the omelette on his own plate into neat bitesize pieces.

”Thanks”, Harry says and the blonde gives him a small smile.

”We’ll have to floo though”, Remus says. ”I’m not sure I’m up for Side-Alonging both of you.”

”Fine by me”, Draco says immediately, overlapping Harry’s _good_ and they exchange a wry look.

”Well, all right then”, Remus says with tired finality. ”No point in putting it off further, I suppose. So, when you’re ready, boys…”

As soon as Harry has finished his breakfast, he goes back to his bedroom and digs the Invisibility Cloak out of his wardrobe, where it’s been folded up for the past few years, ever since his dads forbade him to take it to Hogwarts anymore. His daddy did change his mind about the Marauder’s Map last year when it became clear that Umbridge was out to make Harry’s life as miserable as possible and gave it back to him, but Harry never got around to using it and now it lies, wiped and folded, at the back of his wardrobe too.

” _Harry? You coming?_ ” Draco calls from the hallway behind him. ” _Remus is waiting for us—_ ”

”Yeah”, Harry calls back. ”Be right there!”

Without thinking much about it, Harry grabs the Map and stalks over to his school trunk and slips it inside.

Draco is waiting for him just outside the bedroom door, looking inside a small money-bag embroidered with delicate silver thread, but looks up when Harry joins him.

”I really do need to go into Gringotts…” he mutters. ”I thought maybe I had enough to last me ’til Christmas, but with the school books and the robes…”

”I could lend you the money if you rather not go inside Gringotts today?”

”No, don’t be silly…” Draco frowns, shaking his head dismissively.

”It’s not silly, I have more than enough in my school vault—”

Draco frowns in confusion, ”School vault?”

”Well, that’s — yeah — well _my_ vault, I guess. I have my own Gringotts vault with money left to me by James and Lily. I don’t have full access to it until I’m of age, but I can use it for school stuff, so I kind of think of it as my school vault…”

”Oh…” Draco smirks. ”Well, thanks. But it’s okay. I’ll need to withdraw some money at some point, might as well be today…”

”Okay, if you’re sure…” Harry says, handing him the Invisibility Cloak.

Remus floos first, to check that the coast is clear. Draco stuffs the Invisibility Cloak into his travel robe pocket and then steps into the grate after him. Harry watches his boyfriend begin to spin inside the emerald flames and feels Sirius heavy hand like a comforting weight on the back of his neck.

”You know what I’m going to say right?” his dad murmurs.

”Probably”, Harry grins. ”Be good, stay out of trouble and listen to my daddy?”

Sirius snorts, and pulls him into a quick one-armed hug.

”Get out of here…” he mutters good-naturedly.

Harry stumbles out of the fireplace on the other end before he’s even stopped spinning fully. He can see Remus silhouetted in the doorway leading to the pub, shielding the fireplace from view somewhat. Draco is nowhere to be seen, so Harry knows he must be hidden under the Cloak already.

He dusts himself off half-heartedly and approaches his daddy, but the man stays in the doorway and thrusts a small brush into Harry’s hands. Swallowing a sigh, Harry takes the brush and gives himself a more thorough dusting, until most of the soot is gone.

”Come on”, Remus says quietly, taking the brush back. ”We’ll head for Gringotts first. Stay close to me…”

The Leaky Cauldron is, as ever, shrouded in a warm gloom. Making it impossible to tell what time of day it is. As is illustrating this further, some of the patrons are slurping soup while some are already deep into their tankards of butterbeer.

The toothless old landlord and barman is deep in conversation with a wizard sipping something that looks even stronger than butterbeer, Harry can see. The both of them huddled close, heads close together across the bar. But as Remus steps out into the dim light, with Harry close on his heel, he straightens up and gives them an expectant, almost hopeful look.

”Tom…” Remus greets and raises a hand in greeting. ”We’re just passing through, I’m afraid.”

The old wizard deflates a little, but nods in understanding. Harry can feel his watery eyes linger on his forehead, making his skin itch and nearly steps on the back of his daddy heels in his hurry to get out of there.

They make their way out into the small courtyard at the back and Remus makes a beeline for the wall behind the bins, tapping a particular brick with his wand and impatiently waiting for it to rearrange itself and reveal the cobbled street on the other side.

As soon as they step through the archway and begin to follow the winding street into the heart of Diagon Alley, Harry’s chest unclenches and he looks around happily. The sight of the colorful window displays and happy wizarding families milling around to look at them triggers a sense memory of childhood excitement and for a moment he can almost allow himself to forget why they had to be wary in the first place. But looking around to exchange a smile with his boyfriend, only to be staring out into seemingly empty space, sends Harry plummeting back into reality and he sighs.

”Come on, no dallying…” Remus says, leading the way with sure strides and Harry feels Draco pinch the robes’ fabric at his back and shuffle closer, so as not to lose him in the small crowd.

Remus hearty strides stutter momentarily and Harry follows his wary gaze to the shop front of Ollivander’s and feels his stomach churn unpleasantly at the _Closed_ sign in the middle of the door. Before he can ask his daddy if he thinks it seems suspicious that the old wandmaker has closed his shop when every other Diagon Alley business is clearly carrying on as usual ,with an almost exaggerated carefree attitude towards the whispered rumour mill of _dark wizard activity,_ Remus has resumed walking and at an even quicker pace.

They reach the old wizarding bank and Remus continues up the white marble staircase without breaking his stride again, taking the steps two at a time and making it difficult for Harry to keep up with him, especially with Draco still latched onto his robes. Remus waits for them at the top, holding the massive bronze door open for them when they reach him.

Inside the Entrance Hall, Remus gives the goblin guards a surreptitious look, then murmurs to Draco that he can take the Cloak off.

In the next moment, the blonde appears out of thin air in-between Harry and Remus, his platinum hair slightly unruly and charged with static electricity that makes Harry smile, but it quickly falls when he catches the worried glint in the boy’s eyes.

”Ollivander’s gone”, he says quietly.

”I know”, Remus mumbles, looking around anxiously.

”Do you think—?”

”I don’t know”, Remus says quickly. ”I shouldn’t think so, there was no sign of a struggle. I’m sure he’s decided to go into hiding, that’s all… Now come on, I want to get this over with. Stay close to me, boys.”

Approaching the second set of doors, Harry quickly scans the words engraved on them, feeling his stomach churn once more, but at the same time a small stirring of excitement sparks to life inside him as well.

_”Enter, stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there.”_

Sirius normally makes Harry’s withdrawals for him, so he’s never actually seen inside Gringotts before. It’s never seemed particularly exciting to visit a bank, or he would have asked to make his own withdrawals by now, but nevertheless… Now that he’s here, Harry can’t help but feel a bit excited. After all, he’s heard all the rumours about the Gringott vaults, and this engraving only fans that particular fire.

_I wonder what all they have down there?_

”Come on, quickly”, Remus mumbles, holding the next set of doors open for them.

They enter the massive marble hall, flanked by long counters behind which goblins sit engrossed with the numbers of their calculations until a human makes a bid for their attention. Remus leads the way to the nearest goblin and gently ushers Draco and Harry forward under its watchful stare.

”Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, withdrawals”, he tells the goblin in a clear and steady voice, but no louder than absolutely necessary.

”Identification”, the goblin says sharply.

Draco and Harry both fumble to retrieve their wands from their pockets and holds them up. The goblin grabs them both and gives them each a thorough once over, before begrudingly handing them back.

”Follow me, then”, he says, hopping down from his seat and then suddenly reappearing next to them.

They follow the goblin to the end of the long hall and into a narrow passageway, it’s grimy stonework dimly lit by flickering torches and Harry looks around excitedly. However, as they all squeeze into a small cart and begins to make their jerky journey into the depths of the vaults, Harry’s excitement quickly simmers down again.

”Here we are — vault 687 — Harry Potter”, the goblin annouces and the cart comes to a sudden stop.

_Is that it?_ Harry thinks, scrambling to unfold his limbs and climb out of the cart. _No dragons, no dementors, no Inferi, no password protection charms—?_

He fidgets next to the goblin a little nervously as he waits for him to unlock the door. He peers inside the vault, mildly surprised to see a small mount of gold. Venturing inside, he has to remind himself to only fill his money bag up halfway. Even if there is a lot of gold left and only two more years of school, he still doesn’t know what kind of job he might want after graduation, if he’ll need to continue his studies beyond Hogwarts or not, and if it turns out Dumbledore is right and he has to go to war… _well, I might need this for something other than sweets,_ he thinks.

And it’s not like he needs a new broom or anything, as much as he’d love to get his hands on a Firebolt or something.

He pulls the bag closed and ties it, then hurries back to the others. With some awkward manouevring of limbs, he squeezes into the cart next to Draco and quickly grabs onto the side of it when it lurches into motion once more. Draco’s vault is even deeper down, right next to the Malfoy family vault.

It hadn’t occurred to Harry before, but watching his boyfriend clamber out of the cart and scurry into the vault with quick, jerky movements and return seconds later, obviously desperate to get moving again, he realises the blonde must have been anxious about running into his father while down here.

_Daddy too,_ Harry thinks as they return to the surface and both men visibly relax next to him.

As soon as they’re back in the Entrance Hall, Draco disappears under the Invisibility Cloak again and Remus leads the way back into the street outside.

”We’ll get your books first, since Flourish and Blotts is closest, and then we’ll stop by Madam Malkin’s on our way back to The Leaky Cauldron”, he says without breaking his stride.

Harry is surprised to run into a perpetually cheerful Cedric Diggory inside the old bookshop, considering the older boy — _or man,_ Harry corrects himself, allowing his gaze to flit across the former Hufflepuff’s broadened shoulders and up into his beaming face, lined with a tell-tale five o’clock shadow — graduated two years ago.

”Harry!” Diggory exclaims happily, turning the full spectacle of broadness that is his body towards them.

Of course, Flourish and Blotts isn’t for Hogwarts students’ textbook needs _only_. The top floor is entirely devoted to novels, Harry knows. But he would have thought that an adult in search of their next bedtime tome would choose to get it the week _after_ school starts, rather than the week _before_ , to avoid being trampled by excitable children and their stressed out parents…

”Heya”, Harry mumbles, giving the Hufflepuff a pinched smile.

”Professor Lupin”, Diggory adds, beaming at Remus.

Harry watches them shake hands, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, uncomfortably aware that he is the _kid_ in this scenario and bristling at the idea.

_I won the Triwizard Tournament,_ he thinks sullenly.

”What’re you doing here?” he mutters.

”Oh, little bit of this… little bit of that…” Diggory says airly and winks. ”I really should be going, though. It was great to see you both—”

”You too”, Remus smiles thinly, gaze darting away briefly to scan the gathering crowd in front of the till.

”I daresay we’ll probably see each other again soon”, Diggory adds and gives Harry another wink. ”Give my love to Draco!”

”What”, Harry says flatly.

It comes out a second too late and the younger man is already walking away, so Harry wheels around to direct his incredulous look at Remus instead, ”Love? What?”

”It’s just an expression, Harry”, Remus assures him calmly, already steering him towards the Transfiguration Section. ”Have you got your book list?”

After the somewhat sweaty ordeal of navigating the cramped situation inside Flourish and Blotts, that had Draco clutching the back of Harry’s robes and stumbling into his back several times, Draco is clearly desperate to get out from under the Invisibility Cloak.

As soon as they’re across the threshold of Madam Malkin’s he’s almost knocked Harry off his feet, pushing passed him inside the shop and wrenched the Cloak off with a gasp of in inhale before the little bell above the door has stopped tinkling. Looking around in relief, the blonde’s attention is quickly caught by a rack of dress robes in shades of blue and green. Harry frowns sceptically, they’re practically sparkling in the dim sunlight falling through the large shop windows.

”You need school robes as well, Draco”, Remus reminds him sternly, then gives Madam Malkin as polite smile in greeting when the witch appears from behind another rack of dress robes.

”Oh, another growth spurt, is it?” the older witch chuckles knowingly. ”I probably owe eighty percent of my business to growth spurts — Hogwarts, is it?”

” _Yes_ ”, Draco calls from behind the sparkling row of blues and greens. ” _Slytherin_.”

”And yourself, dear?” the witch peers at Harry kindly.

”I’m… good”, Harry says awkwardly, unconsciously straightening his back.

”Oh, I wouldn’t worry, dear…”

”…’m not _worried_ ”, Harry mutters, barely resisting the urge to shrug off Remus’ reassuring hand when it kneads his shoulder briefly.

”Harry”, Draco pipes up a little closer suddenly.

He whirls around to see the blonde standing on the other side of the rack now, a dark blue fabric draped over his shoulder and a hopeful glint in his eyes and Harry is surprised to see they almost look blue as well, even though he knows they’re grey.

_Must be a trick of the light or something_ , he thinks, glancing between the fabric and his boyfriend’s eyes.

”Yeah?”

”What do you think?”

”Er… Yeah…” Harry nods hesitantly.

”You think it washes me out”, Draco says glumly and Harry frowns in confusion.

_I’m pretty sure that’s not at all what I said_ , he thinks.

”It’s too dark, right? Makes me look too pale? Remus, you agree?” the blonde continues, turning to Remus with a miserable look.

”I don’t agree”, the older man says calmly. ”I think it’s a lovely colour that brings out your eyes. Now will you come here and let Madam Malkin take your measurements, please?”

”I didn’t _say_ —” Harry objects, but no-one in the room seems to pay him any attention.

Feeling ignored, Harry steps off to the side and grumbles to himself while the others get on with Draco’s measurements and fabric choices.

Leaning against the wall next to the big windows, he crosses his arms and glares unseeingly at the people outside until he’s distracted by a flash of ginger. The scowl gradually slips off his face as he watches the Weasley family scurry between Gringotts and Flourish Blotts, Mrs Weasley shepherding everyone with sure and well-practised movements. He smiles a little to himself.

He wonders if he’s ever going to be able to look at Ron again without his mind flashing back to the boy moving his gangly limbs awkwardly over a stunned Granger while Harry’s friends cheered and chortled. He grins, shaking his head fondly at the memory. _That was a good birthday party._

” _Harry_?” Draco calls from behind him.

Harry inhales deeply, determined not to say anything bad about whatever fabric the blonde is wearing, not even unwittingly and turns around.

Draco is standing in front of him, holding out his arms a little and watching him hopefully. He’s got fabric in a different shade of blue hugging his figure and apart from the slight shine in the fabric and the odd pin keeping it in place, it doesn’t sparkle. Harry swallows and takes his time taking in the vision that is his boyfriend.

”Well?” Draco prompts anxiously.

Harry blinks and tears his eyes away from the boy’s chest.

”Do you like it?”

”You look great!”

”Really?” the blonde presses sceptically, but his shoulders slump a little as he relaxes. ”It doesn’t wash me out? Like the other blue?”

Harry huffs and throws his hands up in the air, barely registering the fact that Draco lurches forward for a reassuring embrace, ” _I never said_ —!”

”I know”, Draco murmurs immediately, fisting the fabric of Harry’s robes at his sides and nudging the side of his head with his nose. ”I know, I just…”

”It looks good, Draco”, Remus calls out behind them and Draco steps back from Harry again, his right hand lingering on his waist. ”Now come on and let Madam Malkin finish up, we’ll need school robes as well and then we really ought to get going… Draco?”

Harry looks from his daddy to his boyfriend, realising that the blonde is frozen to the spot and staring out the window behind Harry. He wheels around to follow his gaze curiously, and feels his stomach drop when he sees two black-clad figures with long platinum-blonde hair disappear down Knockturn Alley.

He quickly wheels back around and stares up into Draco’s face. The blonde’s eyes are hard, but also a little sad. His mouth is set in a thin line.

”Hey…” Harry murmurs quietly.

Draco blinks and tears his eyes away from the window again, meeting his gaze.

_It’s going to be okay,_ Harry thinks, reaching out to give the other boy’s arm a reassuring squeeze and hissing in pain when the side of his finger catches on a pin.

” _Careful_ ”, Madam Malkin exclaims. ”Young man, come back here this instant — let me do the stitching, before the pins fall out and we’ll have to start over—!”

Draco lingers in front of Harry, his eyes boring into him with meaning, but eventually he steps back and returns to the grown-ups.

Remus murmurs something to Draco quietly as he stands in front of Madam Malkin obediently, holding his arms out slightly and waiting for her to finish sewing the seams together. He nods his head at whatever Remus says, but says nothing.

Remus looks over at Harry thoughtfully and Harry gives him a pinched smile.

By the time Madam Malkin has finished both set of robes and Draco is paying for them and the extra shirts and socks, Remus is practically vibrating with anxiety, impatient to get home and as soon as Draco has pocketed his change and thanked the witch, he throws the Cloak over him and Harry and grabs Draco’s parcels for him.

Draco immediately puts his arm around Harry and they fall into step with one another, hurrying to catch up with Remus when he stalks towards the exit.

When Remus, seemingly alone, walks into The Leaky Cauldron, a witch approaches him and attempts to strike up a conversation, but he rudely shoots her down and continues walking towards the corner fireplace. Once hidden away from sight, he relaxes a bit and pulls the Cloak off of Harry and Draco and throws them both an apologetic look.

”I know this wasn’t the most… fun… outing”, he says a little sheepishly. ”I know we’d normally grab an ice cream at Florean Fortuscue’s before heading home, but it’s really not safe for—”

”We know, daddy”, Harry reassures him gently.

”Yeah, I saw my parents”, Draco says quietly and, at Remus wide-eyed stare, quickly adds. ”They didn’t see us. I just saw their backs, through the windows in Madam Malkin’s… But… They were heading down Knockturn Alley. My father has taken me there before, but… My mother wouldn’t be caught dead in that place… So…”

”All right”, Remus says evenly, but his eyes are still a bit spooked. ”There’s nothing we can do about it, all we can do is make sure _you’re_ safe…”

”I know”, Draco nods, looking down.

”Harry, why don’t you take Draco to Rosa Lee’s for ice cream instead?” Remus suggests. ”Hogsmeade is still fairly safe and even if something _were_ to happen, the Hog’s Head is just down the road. It wouldn’t be the first time that Aberforth—”

”That’s okay, I rather go home”, Draco says suddenly, then immediately blushes and stammers out, ”I-I-I mean y-y-our home, C-C-reirwyn’s—”

”Okay…” Remus gently interrupts him, putting a comforting hand on the blonde’s shoulder. ”Let’s just go home then… and it’s _your_ home too, Draco…”

The blush in Draco’s face grows stronger at that, but there’s a definite glimmer of relief in his eyes as well, Harry sees and smiles happily. He reaches out to grab the other boy’s hand and gives in a squeeze.

”Definitely”, he says.


	7. a normal year at Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly short one, but didn't want to keep you waiting any longer!

The first of September has always been a bittersweet affair in Harry’s family, ever since he started Hogwarts. The excitement of facing another school year at the castle and of seeing his friends would always be inevitably mixed up with the melancholy of saying goodbye to his dads.

This year, however, feels nothing but bitter. Harry is in a mood before he’s even opened his eyes and any hint of excitement that might have been is entirely overpowered, not by melancholy so much as dread and then, of course, there is his new pet monster of rage and jealousy, which is refusing to go back into hibernation and instead continues to coil tensely in the pit of his stomach. Every so often, it lets out puffs of fire, like warning sparks fired from a wand, that surges up Harry’s insides like heartburn.

By the time he’s sitting down for breakfast, it’s clear that he is not the only person in the kitchen to feel this way. His dads are both slumped tensely over their porridge bowls, each of their faces clouded over. Draco is staring vacantly ahead whilst his jaw works mindlessly to chew bits of unbuttered burnt toast until he’s finished a whole slice of it. He then chugs the entire contents of his coffee cup in one go as if to wash it all down.

”Have you finished packing?” Remus murmurs.

Draco nods, blinking focus back into his eyes. Harry looks from the tense jaw muscle of his profile to his daddy’s furrowed brow and nods as well.

Although his mood doesn’t completely lift, Harry feels somewhat lighter when he steps out into the crisp morning air and by the time they see the Hogwarts Express roll into the station, a modest stirring of excitement is finally allowed to slip through the dense fog in his mind. He looks over at Draco and sees that the blonde’s face has relaxed a little as well.By the time they can see their friends hop down onto the platform and shovie their way to the front of the crowd, the tension in Draco’s face has completely drained away. Harry smiles fondly, watching the subtle twinkle of amusement in the grey eyes as Seamus indignant voice carries over the ruckus and reaches them with a choice expletive that would have landed him in detention for a week if McGonagall had caught him saying it.

”Oh you’re here”, Pansy says by ways of greeting when she reaches them and leans in to kiss the air next to Draco’s cheek. ”Good. Saves me telling you what _a complete hog_ Seamus is—”

”Like that’s news”, Draco quips, sending the short Irish boy a teasing smirk.

Pansy lets out a sniff and leans in the kiss the air next to Harry’s face as well, then climbs into the carriage behind them without another word. Harry also smirks at Seamus whose face is now sporting a a rather telling shade of pink.

”Why don’t you try being nice”, Harry tells him pleasantly. ”A novel and revolutionising idea, I know. But it _might_ just work…”

”No I think Seamus is onto something”, Draco says, pulling out of his hug with Blaise to nod in mock seriousness. ”I say keep it up, Seamus. In another six years, she’ll be putty in your hands for sure…”

”Shove off the pair of yehs”, Seamus mutters and gives Harry’s upper arm a gentle punch. ”It’s good to see you, though.”

”Thanks”, Harry says and punches him back.

Blaise sidles up to him and knocks their shoulders together. His eyes twinkle happily when Harry immediately reaches out to give him a hug in greeting as well, just like Draco had done.

”Try and keep things boring this year, will you?” the boy mutters drily, hugging back. 

”I’ll try my best — _What?_ What the hell is _he_ doing here?” Harry splutters, frowning at a group of Hufflepuffs over Blaise’s shoulder, all crowding around none other than Cedric Diggory.

Blaise steps back and turns around to follow his gaze, as do Draco and Seamus, but only Draco looks surprised to see Diggory. Blaise and Seamus, having clearly spotted Diggory on the train, are less surprised, but when Harry demands they let him in on the scoop, both boys shrug in unison.

”No idea”, Seamus adds.

Harry scowls and looks around for Pansy and Daphne to see if they’ve managed to snap up an explanation from the Hogwarts grapevine, but both girls have disappeared into the carriage, so Harry hurries to climb inside it as well.

He clambers over the girls’ outstretched legs and squeezes into to seat opposite them, pinning Pansy with a grim stare and demands that she _spill_. Both girls blink at him slowly, looking decidedly unimpressed with his demanding tone.

”Hogwarts Express gossip, I know you love it, so give it to me”, Harry grouses in rush. ”What have I missed?”

” _Well_ …” Pansy drawls slowly, shooting Daphne a meaningful look before leaning forward towards Harry conspiratorially. ”There _have_ been some interesting developments already—”

”You don’t say”, Harry snaps. ”Just tell me everything you know.”

He’s vaguely aware of Draco squeezing in next to him on the seat, but doesn’t tear his eyes away from Pansy as she starts to dish out the latest gossip in a dramatic hush. But the more she speaks, the more frustrated and confused Harry gets.

”What — _slug_ — no, I don’t care about some stupid _club_ or professor whatshisname, I want to know what _Diggory_ is doing here!”

”Oh…” Pansy leans back again with a frown. ”Well, I don’t exactly know that yet…”

”Pansy, you are the queen of gossip”, Harry counters and tries not to sound like she’s just completely let him down. ”You’re meant to be on top of these things—”

Pansy gives him a wounded look.

”What’s this club—?” Draco starts, but Harry shushes him.

”It’s nothing, just a teacher’s pet gathering”, Blaise answers anyway. ”The new Defense professor obviously has his own way of doing things. Rather than using the threat of detention, he’s gone the positive reinforcement route instead, but it’s all rather transparent… it’s clearly just an excuse for him to suck up to the future elite. He spent most of the meeting name-dropping…”

”The meeting?” Draco repeats wryly. ”Let me guess… the one and only branch of the Zabini family tree is destined to blossom into an elite flower in the near future, is it?”

”That’s a very poetic way of saying _my mother is rich and influencial and I’ll probably be too_ ”, Blaise smirks. ”But yes. I’m in the club.”

”Yes yes yes”, Harry mutters impatiently. ”Who cares. What about Diggory?”

”You are too, by the way”, Blaise adds. ”Both of you.”

”Really?” Draco says, looking almost cheerful about it.

Harry rolls his eyes.

”Diggory”, he snaps. ”On the Hogwarts Express. Why?”

”Oh, who cares”, Seamus mutters on the other side of Draco. ”He’s probably just here to see Dumble-bore and caught the Hogwarts Express for the free fare…”

”You don’t think he’s been hired?” Harry says anxiously. ”As a teacher? Dumbledore wouldn’t hire him to teach DADA right?”

”Don’t be ridiculous”, Pansy says dismissively and Harry relaxes somewhat. ”He only just graduated and he wasn’t even that good at DADA…”

”Besides we already know who the new Defense teacher is”, Blaise reminds him. ”We’ve just told you. Professor Slughorn.”

”Right”, Harry says, relaxing even more. ”Right, yeah… Good…”

The rest of the carriage ride up to the castle continues to be relaxed and pleasant. By the time they all take their seats at the Slytherin long table, Harry is feeling positively cheerful compared to earlier in the day. It lasts all of five seconds, before it’s completely extinguised by the sight of Diggory waltzing out of the side door at the front of the Great Hall.

Harry gapes in outrage as the broad-shouldered Hufflepuff sinks into an empty seat at the Head Table and leans over to offer Professor Snape a grin.

”Merlin’s beard…” Harry murmurs in dismay, watching the Potions Master shake Diggory’s hand in greeting and not send him on his way at all.

”He’s probably just visiting”, Pansy murmurs next to him. ”Dumbledore has probably decided to name a staircase after him or something and he’s just here to cut a ribbon—”

”What”, Harry says. ”Why? That makes no sense — he didn’t win the Triwizard Tournament, Hufflepuff didn’t win the Quidditch Cup his last year, and as far as I know, he didn’t even graduate top of his class—!”

”Maybe Dumbledore has a crush on him…”

Harry gives whirls his head around to give the girl an incredulous look and her smirk twitches in response.

For once, the moment of Dumbledore’s speech couldn’t come soon enough as far as Harry is concerned. The longer he has to sit and wait for the explanation for Diggory’s presence at Hogwarts, the more time his imagination has to come up with ludicrous ones of its own, each more horrifying than the next, as the imaginary Dumbledore stands up to address the student body in Harry’s mind’s eye:

_”I’m sure Cedric Diggory needs no introduction from me, having only_ just _graduated from Hogwarts himself and_ already _the youngest wizard to complete Auror training, in_ half _the normal time, which is why I have appointed him as Head of Security here at Hogwarts so that he may look after all of us in these troubling times…”_

_”I’m sure you’re all as pleased to see Mister Diggory again as I am, which is why I’m positive that you will all join me in welcoming him back to Hogwarts as the first student to ever study for their Mastery here — and as he is studying to become a Potions Master, Professor Snape and myself have decided it is only fitting that he should share the Slytherin Common room and Sixth Year boys’ dorm…”_

_”Everyone, if I could have your attention, please… I’d like you all to welcome Mister Diggory back to Hogwarts and make him feel at home here again, now that he is to live here indefinitely as my personal guest and sweetheart—”_

_Oh Merlin, stop it,_ Harry thinks sourly.

In just that moment, the real Professor Dumbledore chooses to push to his feet and Harry stares in mounting dread as the sparkling old wizard makes his way to the small podium in front of the Head Table, the word _sweetheart_ echoing at the back of his mind as he waits with bated breath for the man to start speaking.

”He does look a bit more smitten than usual…” Pansy whispers next to him.

”Shut- _up_ ”, Harry grouses back.

”The very best of evenings to you”, Dumbledore exclaims happily, extending his glittery arms wide as if to embrace the whole room of them.

Harry’s gaze in immediately drawn to the one part of the Headmaster that is not glittering, mainly his blackened right hand. He remembers seeing it up close at his birthday party and realising that the dark colour was not coated onto the skin, but rather the effect of dead, if not cursed, tissue. A soft gasp next him tells him Pansy must have noticed the hand too, and judging by the wave of whispers sweeping over the Hall, she’s not the only one.

Dumbledore continues to smile widely at them all, but lets his arms fall back down to his sides, making sure to shake the purple and gold sleeve of his right arm down to cover the dead-looking limb as he does.

”Nothing to worry about”, he says pleasantly. ”Now… to our new students, I would like to say, _welcome_! And, of course, to our returning students, _welcome back—_!”

”What do you think happened to it?” Pansy murmurs quietly next to Harry.

He gives his head a miniscule shake, staring intently at the Headmaster as he goes through the normal points of listing out-of-bounds areas of the school grounds and banned-by-Filch joke items, willing him to _get to the point._

As if hearing Harry’s thoughts, Dumbledore finally trails off and half turns towards the staff table to smile in Diggory’s direction.

_Sweetheart,_ Harry’s mind echoes and he shivers unpleasantly.

”And finally, we are pleased to announce some exciting changes to the staff this year…”

”No…” Harry groans quietly.

”First of all, Professor Slughorn”, Dumbledore says, pointing with his whole hand towards the big-bellied, balding old wizard squeezed into the seat on Professor Snape’s other side and he immediately stands up to give the students a small bow in greeting. ”… is a former colleague of mine, who has agreed to resume his old post as Potions master—”

”What”, Harry gasps, slightly louder than he’d intended, but it’s drowned by the general noise of protest that erupts all along the Slytherin table as well as the excited titters from the other three houses.

”Potions? _Potions?_ ” people echo incredulously around him.

”Professor Snape, meanwhile”, Dumbledore continues in a slightly louder voice, encouraging them all to quiet down once more. ”Has kindly agreed to take up the brand new post of Head of Defense of Against the Dark Arts… in order to oversee the teacher training of Cedric Diggory, who will, as of this school year be our resident Defense teacher in training—”

” _What_ ”, Harry blurts out again and although it comes out even louder than the last time, it’s still drowned out by the erupting noise around him.

Harry and his group of friends quickly exchange looks of dismay, mirrored by the rest of the Slytherins all along the table. They don’t need to join in with the excited or shocked chatter of the other three houses to know what their housemates are thinking. With the exception of the First Years who have yet to have a single lesson with Professor Snape, the Slytherin consensus about these staff changes is clear and it’s one of disappointment, and that for two reasons: they all _like_ having Professor Snape as their potions teacher, but none of them liked it very much when he taught them DADA in Third Year.

Harry remembers the rumours back in Third Year, particularly amongst the Gryffindors who were convinced that Professor Snape was poisoining Remus to get his job. But he also remembers thinking at the time that the Potions Master didn’t really seem all that happy about having to step in to take the class when Remus was ill, so he never believed the man actually coveted the position.

Looking at him now, sitting so tensely next to the grinning Diggory that he’s practically leaning away from him and looking more thunderous than Harry has ever seen him, Harry is certain that he would have rather continued teaching potions, but Dumbledore hadn’t given him a choice.

”What does that mean though, Head of DADA? Is he not going to teach us anymore—?” Blaise hisses, ignoring the rest of Dumbledore’s speech.

”I don’t know, maybe not. He doesn’t look very happy”, Harry mutters.

He’s so engrossed in his glum musings about it as he’s decorating the wall above his four poster bed later that evening, that it takes him a good while before the tension in the room fully registers with him and even then it takes him another moment to figure out the source of it. But once he does, he’s amazed he didn’t spot it immediately.

Across the dorm, Crabbe and Goyle are taking turns to glare daggers in Draco’s direction whilst muttering darkly to each other, nodding their heads and cracking their knuckles.

Harry frowns and looks a little closer at his boyfriend. The blonde is practically trembling with the effort of remaining outwardly unbothered by the behaviour of the two larger boys who, Harry now remembers, are both sons of Death Eaters — possibly even fledgling Death Eaters themselves, who knows if Draco was the only sixteen-year-old to be offered the _great honour_ of being branded with the dark mark this past summer?

For the first time, Harry begins to fully understand where his daddy is coming from; maybe Remus isn’t crazy at all, maybe he’s not even over-protective but _realistically wary_ and maybe it’s Sirius and Harry’s Gryffindor side that are naive and reckless to not see the dangers around them.

Feeling himself tense up further at this realisation, Harry glances uncomfortably between his boyfriend and the two gorilla-like boys in the corner.

Are they even safe in this dorm anymore?

Draco, clearly intent on ignoring the tension in the room, even if he can’t dispel it, sits down on his bed and carefully angles his back towards Crabbe and Goyle to face Blaise and Seamus.

”Who else is in this Slug Club then?” he asks Blaise casually, folding his legs under himself.

”Well, from Gryffindor there’s McLaggen, Granger—”

”Granger?” Draco repeats indignantly.

”Yeah—”

”McLaggen, I get — his uncle’s big in the Ministry — but what’s he want with _Granger_?”

Blaise shrugs and leans back against his pillows.

”I’m so sick of that girl”, Draco grumbles. ”I feel like my life is just infested with Gryffindors, it’s like they’re a fungus that just spreads over everything—”

Harry lets out an exasperated huff and shoots him a look that says _really?_ and the blonde pulls a face that is nowhere near genuinely apologetic, but swiftly lets the subject go.

”Well you won’t like this then…” Blaise says drily. ”The Weasley girl and Longbottom are also in the club…”

” _What?_ ” Draco’s voice seems to have risen comically to match his posture when he straightens up in sheer indignation.

”From Ravenclaw, there’s this boy called Belby…”

”The Weaslette? Longbottom?”

”Uh-huh…” Blaise says in a long-suffering voice. ”And Belby—”

” _Oh who cares about that prat, you’re telling me this Slughorn person genuinely believes that Longbottom and the Weaslette are going to belong to some kind of socialite elite in the next few years?_ Longbottom? LONGBOTTOM?” Draco says in a rush of words, glaring across the dorm at the other boy as if holding him somehow responsible for the fact.

”What can I say…” Blaise says, gesturing vaguely. ”Maybe he’s going senile?”

”Must be…” Draco mutters darkly. ”Circe… I can’t believe I’m going to have to socialise with these—”

”We don’t have to, you know”, Harry tells him pointedly. ”Slughorn might have selected us, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept his invitation.”

”Are you mad?” Draco says, giving him an affronted look.

Harry simply rolls his eyes and starts getting ready for bed. The others follow suit, but like Harry they all take their time. Harry spends a while reorganising the contents of his trunk and he can see from the corner of his eye that Blaise is pretending to look for his toothpaste, all the while throwing Crabbe and Goyle’s cornersurreptitious looks.

As soon as the two larger boys decide to stop cracking their knuckles for the evening and both disappear behind their bed-hangings, Seamus immediately makes a beeline for their four-posters and throws a _Muffliato_ over them.

”Okay, I’ve been dying ask”, Blaise says immediately, pinning Draco with an intense look. ”I didn’t want to in front of the girls, in case, I don’t know—”

”I don’t mind them knowing”, Draco mumbles, hunching over slightly to hug himself.

He looks so small and vulnerable suddenly that it makes Harry’s chest twinge. He quickly moves over to sit next to him, putting a comforting arm around his back and the blonde gratefully leans into him.

”So it’s really true…” Seamus says in an awed hush, walking back to his bed and slumping down on the side of without tearing his eyes away from Draco the whole time. ”You-Know-Who wanted to Mark you?”

Draco nods grimly.

”Did you — you didn’t —” the Irish boy stutters to a stop, his gaze flickering down to Draco’s arms.

”Of course not”, Draco bites out in annoyance. ”I ran away before they could do it.”

Blaise looks over to meet Harry’s gaze, silent understanding passing between them for a moment before they both turn their attention back to Draco.

”Nifty saved my life, she came to warn me and then she Apparated me to Hogsmeade… if it she hadn’t, there’s no way I would have been able to get out of it.”

Harry feels the shiver when it passes through his boyfriend and tightens his embrace.

”Man…” Seamus murmurs in awe. ”Did you come here? Did Dumbledore help you?”

Draco shakes his head, ”No, I don’t think anyone was even at the castle, but I don’t know. The gates were locked and the wards were up, anyway. So I went to Harry’s…”

He turns his head to give Harry a misty look.

”You went home”, Harry corrects gently, giving him a small smile.

”Well, that’s all adorable and all”, Blaise says in his driest voice. ”But what are we going to do about them?”

Harry and Draco both turn their heads to see him nod towards Crabbe and Goyle’s beds.

”I don’t know…” Harry mutters. ”But we’ll have to think of something. They’re not going to let this go.”

”I know”, Blaise nods in agreement. ”And for all we know, they could have been offered the Mark too—”

”—and accepted”, Harry finishes the sentence for him with a grim look. ”Yeah, I thought of that, too.”

”Merlin…” Seamus says heavily. ”D’you reckon we’ll ever have a normal year at Hogwarts?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought long and hard about this. Obviously there was no way Remus would let Dumbledore steal Harry away to visit Slughorn… so initially I was going to keep Snape as Potions Master and either have Dumbledore bring in Tonks to teach DADA or force him to do it himself. 
> 
> But then I realised that getting a hold of Slugorn’s memory would be too important for Dumbledore to just give up on that plan, so he would definitely find some other way to persuade him, possibly mentioning casually that he’s just been to Harry’s birthday party and maybe mentioning that he has his mother’s eyes, or something like that… 
> 
> Regarding Snape’s old copy of Advanced Potions-Making, there would literally be no reason for Harry to have that because he’s doing well in Potions and always planned to take it, so he would buy a new copy in Diagon Alley. It did strike me for a moment that Canon!Dumbledore might have planted Snape’s old book in the cupboard to find, if it’s important for Harry to do well in Potions to get closer to Slughorn, because it’s actually a bit weird that Snape would leave it lying around… but then I realised that it’s even more far-fetched to think that Dumbledore would have it and plant it there, and that Harry actually gets it. So I reigned my ”Dumbledore is a manipulative and clever man”-train of thought in and went back to my original idea to scrap the Half-Blood Prince plotline (unfortunately)


	8. Where is Theo?

After a night’s fitful sleep, the barely rested group of friends reemerge above ground for breakfast. Wisps of cloud are stretching over the ceiling of the Great Hall like so many persistent cobwebs and Harry can’t help but to reflect on the streaks of pale grey obstructing the blue of the summer sky as foreshadowing the autumn days to come, and soon.

Drowning a sigh with the morning’s first mouthful of coffee, Harry begins to fill his plate with whatever breakfast food is within his reach, ignoring Draco’s surprised look when none of it is scrabbled eggs, which is normally his favourite.

”There are colours other than beige and brown on your plate”, Pansy comments lightly on his other side. ”Are you feeling well?”

Harry ignores her too.

They all finish eating in record time. Even Draco, although he is the last of them to put his spoon down, is done long before most of the students at the next table. Harry glances over at Professor Snape, who is still picking his way through whatever he’s having for breakfast and he decides to top up his coffee since they all need to wait for their Head of House to hand out the timetables anyway.

They don’t have to wait very long for Professor Snape to stand up and make his way around the staff table, but as soon as he reaches their year, the distribution of timetables suddenly becomes a little more complicated and time consuming. Rather than just passing one to each student, Professor Snape needs to cross reference their choice of courses with their O.W.L. results, to make sure they actually qualify for their chosen N.E.W.T. classes.

Although, compared to time it takes McGonagall and Sprout to go through this process, Professor Snape goes through each student’s results almost as swiftly as the Head of Ravenclaw, Professor Flitwick, something that the Potions Master is clearly proud of, judging by his posture and the subtle looks he keeps throwing across the Hall, where McGonagall is rifling through her notes restlessly. Harry looks between the two of them and smirks, wondering if they’re conscious of their little race down the long tables or if it’s a purely subconscious competition.

” _Longbottom… Right. Let’s have a look then, shall we…_ ” McGonagall mutters on the other side of the Great Hall and Snape seems to grow another inch from pure relief as he strides over to Harry, almost smiling.

”Harry”, he murmurs in greeting.

”Morning, Sir…”

”You got good O.W.L. marks in all your chosen N.E.W.T. subjects — well, except for History of Magic”, Professor Snape’s frowns at the paper in his hand and then glances up to give Harry a disapproving look. ”You failed that… which means I can’t let you take it. Is there another subject that you would like to take instead? You did well in Care of Magical Creatures…”

Harry glances over at the staff table where Hagrid is sitting and scrunches up his face in an involuntary wince at the by-now-familiar black eye on the half giant’s face. When he looks back at Professor Snape, the man is looking less than impressed.

”Er… I don’t think Care of Magical Creatures is for me, Sir…”

”I seem to recall you telling me you like to work with your hands”, Professor Snape says in a scathing tone and immediately shoots Seamus a warning glare when the boy lets out a guffaw.

Remembering he’s promised Remus to stay on top of all of his classes, or be forced to drop either his Animagus studies or Quidditch, Harry bites his lips anxiously and asks the Potions Master how many classes he needs to take.

”You have the required number of five already, even without History of Magic”, Professor Snape says and without waiting for Harry to actually tell him he’s okay with just five, he spells the timetable for him and hands it over.

”Thank you, Sir”, Harry mumbles, resisting the urge to hang his head.

_Hope he doesn’t think I’m being lazy._

”You’re welcome”, Professor Snape says swiftly, and moves on. ”Draco—”

”Good morning, Sir”, the blonde says eagerly.

”You did very well in all your O.W.L.s, very well indeed…” the Head of House mumbles, looking down the list of results and then hands Draco his timetable without any corrections. ”Well done.”

”Thank you, Sir!” Draco beams proudly and all but hugs the timetable to his chest.

”I take it you’re not trying out for the Quidditch team this year?”

”Wh-what—?” the blonde’s beaming smile flickers out like _Nox_ spell. ”Sir?”

”You’re taking eight N.E.W.T. classes—”

” _Eight?_ ” Seamus echoes incredulously across the table.

”—I doubt you’ll have time for Quidditch as well”, Professor Snape finishes matter-of-factly, then looks over at Seamus to give him his O.W.L. results next.

”You’re taking eight classes?” Harry whispers to his boyfriend, craning his neck to see the blonde’s time table.

Draco angles the paper for him to get a better look and Harry can feel Pansy leaning over his shoulder to steal a peak as well. The time table is completely full, with barely any free periods. Harry can see why Professor Snape would make the comment about Quidditch. Besides the five subjects he’ll share with Harry — Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, Potions and Herbology — Draco has also signed up for Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and, much to Harry’s bemusement—

” _Muggle Studies?_ ” Pansy squeaks next to him.

Draco throws them both an uncomfortable look, ”Yeah?”

”Have you lost your marbles? Why on _earth_ —?”

”You haven’t been taken Muggle Studies”, Harry interjects, unwittingly echoing Pansy’s tone. ”At all, in five years. You don’t have that O.W.L.—”

”Professor Burbage says I can take it anyway”, Draco says, looking a little defensive.

”But _why_?” Pansy hisses. ”Why would you _want_ to—?”

”Miss Parkinson”, Professor Snape interrupts and the girl jumps, sitting up straight again to accept her timetable from the Head of House.

”I guess I wanted to annoy my parents”, Draco tells Harry an hour later when he and the girls rejoin the others outside the Defence classroom. ”I didn’t really think about it—”

”How was Ancient Runes?” Blaise asks the three newcomers.

Draco shrugs as if to say uneventful while Pansy lets out a bored sigh, ”House Rules, you know, the usual first lesson stuff…”

”You signed up for Muggle Studies without thinking about it?” Harry prompts Draco gently and Draco nods, letting out a sigh of frustration.

”Father was being unreasonable about us and outright forbidding me to be with you, whereas mother, as always going for the more subtle, manipulative approach, kept going on about me getting my mastery in Arithmancy from the Lukas Karuzos Institute of Numbers (that’s in Greece, in case you didn’t know) and I was just so fed up with all of it! I guess I wanted to tick them off… and I was in the career councelling meeting with professor Snape and I just…” he shakes his head. ”It seemed like my best option for rebelling against them at the time.”

”I’d say”, Harry mutters, smirking in amusement.

” _At the time_ …” Draco repeats with a meaningful look.

Harry nods in understanding, resisting the urge to look down at the blonde’s arm, hanging pale and unbranded by his side.

”You still going to take it, though?”

Draco doesn’t respond immediately, but there’s a hard glint in his narrowed eyes.

”Surely you don’t need to now — I mean, I think you’ve rebelled enough”, Harry adds lightly.

Draco nods in agreement, but the hard, determined glint is still present in his eyes.

”So…” Harry wheedles. ”Are you going to drop it?”

”No”, Draco says.

”No?” Harry echoes in surprise.

”No”, Draco says again, looking stubbornly determined about it. ”I wasn’t serious about the subject when I signed up, but… I think… yeah, I think maybe it’s a good subject for me to take.”

He looks over at Harry seriosuly.

”Okay”, Harry says, not fully understanding his boyfriend’s reasoning, but happy to support him in the decision anyway.

”How did _Longbottom_ scrape a passing grade in his Defense O.W.L.?” Draco grouses suddenly and Harry follows his narrowed gaze to the other end of the corridor where the Gryffindors are lounging. ”I swear, these Gryffindors, they’re like a social strain of the dragon pox and not even Gunhilda de Gorsemoor can save me—!”

Harry lets out a huff of exasperation and half-turns away from his boyfriend, very deliberately _not_ responding.

”Well, well, well—!”

As the cheerful voice Cedric Diggory rings out in the relative quiet of the corridor, Harry feels himself grit his teeth before he’s even turned around and seen him grin down at them all. He’s not even sure himself why the former Hogwarts student rattles him so much now. They’ve never been friends, but they were at least friendly during the Triwizard Tournament.

But now, watching the taller boy sidle up to Draco with his unfaltering grin and bulging arms and send the blonde a sly side-wink, Harry feels an overwhelming urge to hex the man into oblivion.

”Hi boys…” Diggory says in his best Lockhart impression, tearing his eyes away from Draco and sweeping them all over the group, leaving the blonde blushing a bright pink. ”Good to be back.”

”Move along…” Professor Snape says in a long-suffering voice from the other end of the corridor. ”I’m sure there will be plenty of time for you all to catch up, but the bell _has_ rung…”

”Right you are, Severus”, Diggory says eagerly, springing forth to unlock the classroom door.

Harry hangs back and makes sure to take a seat at the back of the classroom. His friends look between him and the front, clearly torn. He slams his book bag down on the desk and stares back at them all stubbornly. They exchange subtle looks, but join him without a word.

”Oh, come now”, Diggory calls from the front of the classroom, grinning right at Harry. ”Don’t be shy—”

Harry bristles.

It _is_ like having Lockhart teaching DADA all over again.

”We’re doing wandless magic today, you’ll want front row seats—!”

” _Perhaps_ ”, Professor Snape cuts in semi-patiently, glowering at the younger man from his vantage point behind the teacher’s desk. ”We should get the Register out of the way… _first_ …?”

”Oh, yes, right you are Severus”, Diggory nods and accios the class list from the desk top between them.

”Hey, you’re getting taught by someone you beat in the Triwizard Tournament”, Seamus comments quietly, while they wait for their names to be called.

”Thank you, Seamus, the situation needed someone to point out the obvious and make it even more awkward”, Harry mutters back in a dead pan that earns him a few snickers from the others and Seamus simply shrugs with a grin as if to say _I’m here all week_.

Harry feels himself smiling despite himself and shakes his head.

” _Finnegan?_ ”

”Here”, Seamus calls back airly, but quickly sits up a little straighter in his seat and adds a polite _Sir_ when Professor Snape shoots him a warning look.

”Great — Greengrass?”

”Yes _, Sir_ ”, Daphne calls back in a ridiculously sultry voice and immediately kicks Pansy under the table when the other girl lets out an explosive giggle into her hand.

Harry catches Professor Snape throw the ceiling a helpless look and mutter something under his breath, but Diggory himself seems completely unfazed by the sudden commotion.

”Marvellous”, he responds as though nothing has happened. ”Goyle? Lovely. Granger? Fantastic.”

By the time he calls out _Malfoy_ and favours Draco with another grin, the girls have dissolved into a quivering mess of suppressed giggles and Harry seriously considers hitting them with a Petrificus Totalus himself if Snape won’t do it.

_And what is_ he _blushing about?_ he thinks sourly, glaring at the side of his boyfriend’s face.

”Nott—?”

”No”, Professor Snape says suddenly and Diggory turns around in surprise. ”He’s not here — I’ll explain later — just move on to the next one.”

”Oh… All right…” Diggory mumbles. ”Parkinson?”

Harry frowns, then looks around. He meets the shocked eyes of his friends who have all realised the same thing.

_Theo isn’t here._

Thinking back on the previous day and evening, Harry is dismayed to realise he never saw the other boy get off the Hogwarts Express and, now that he thinks about it, one of the four-poster beds in the dorm had remained empty after they’d all claimed theirs. How did he not reflect on _that_ earlier?

”Where’s Theo?” he hisses at Pansy, who just shakes her head in confusion. ”How do _you_ not know?”

”You think his mum pulled him out of school, like she threatened to do last year?” Seamus whispers to Blaise, who also shakes his head.

”How did none of us notice he was gone”, Daphne murmurs, looking stricken. ”Some friends we are…”

” _All right, settle down_ ”, Professor Snape says loudly, standing up from his seat behind the desk. ”There is no need for you all to concern yourself with the whereabouts of Mister Nott. He is _well_ and his mother has assured me that, should the situation in his family calm down, he will rejoin his Slytherin class next term… _Now_ … if Mister Diggory is to successfully complete his teacher’s training with us this year, we will need to proceed as normal and _you_ will need to give him the attention and respect that we would expect you to show _any Hogwarts professor…_ Mister Diggory, if you would like to proceed with the lesson.”

”Yeah!” Diggory exclaims happily, brandishing his wand. ”So we’re doing wandless — _oh_ — ahah, right!”

Professor Snape gives the young an unimpressed look as he pockets his wand again.

”Seeing as this is the first lesson, perhaps it would be prudent to start with an introduction to the class?” he suggests delicately.

”Ah… yeah, sure, I didn’t exactly _plan_ one, but I can impro—”

Professor Snape pushes to his feet for a second time and this time he rounds the teacher’s desk and faces the students with a dramatic swirl of robes.

”The Dark Arts”, he murmurs dramatically, clasping his hands in front of him. ”Are many, varied, ever-changing and _eternal_ …”

Harry bites down on the inside of his lower lip to keep himself from smirking.

_A bit melodramatic…_

_But this is Snape, so…_

”Fighting them”, Professor Snape continues somberly, sweeping his intense gaze over them all. ”Is like fighting a many-headed monster that, each time it gets one head severed from its body, sprouts one even fiercer and cleverer—”

” _Circe_ …” Pansy murmurs quietly under her breath.

”You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible. Your defences must therefore _be_ as flexible and inventive as the Arts you seek to undo. These pictures…”

He raises an arm and indicates a few of the framed portraits hanging around the classroom and Harry curiously studies them for the first time. He’s not entirely surprised to find that they all depict some gruesome situation and thinks Professor Snape must have had a final say in the redecoration of the classroom, even though Diggory supposedly teaches in it.

”… are not the horrific illustratons of fairytales, but accurate representations of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the Cruciatuc Curse… feel the Dementor’s Kiss… or provoke the aggression of the Inferius. Now—”

He sweeps around in a semi-circule to give Diggory a meaningful look in the semblance of including him in the small lecture, but gives no indication that he’s about to let the other man speak.

”We are going to start practising non-verbal magic first in this class, before we move on to wandless… Can any of you tell me the advantage of casting a non-verbal spell?”

It comes as no surprise that Granger’s hand would immediately shoot into the air and begin to twitch with the restraint from not compulsively blurting out the answer. It is surprising, however, that Draco merely shoots her a glare and doesn’t attempt to compete with her for Professor Snape’s attention. Since it is Professor Snape, Harry suspects Draco would be allowed to answer as well, and knows that that would make the blonde feel better, but he’s not even raising his hand. Harry frowns.

Professor Snape seems to come to the same conclusion, letting his hopeful gaze linger a second longer on Draco than anyone else, before returning it to the convulsing Gryffindor with a swallowed sigh.

”Very well — Miss Grang—?”

” _Your adversary has no warning about what kind of magic you’re about to perform which gives you a split-second advantage_ ”, Granger lets out in a relieved rush of words, causing Professor Snape to flinch slightly as if physically feeling the verbal onslaught like a persistent breeze on his face.

Harry can’t help but to smile a little. It’s not fondess that he feels for the girl now, not exactly. But she’s definititely not as annoying as he remembers her being.

”An answer copied almost word for word from _The Standard Book of Spells Grade 6_ ”, Snape mutters and Harry hears Draco let out a breath of a chuckle next to him. ”But correct in essentials.”

It’s Harry’s turn to chuckle. _Copied word for word from the textbook, but correct in essentials? Should hope so — or the textbook isn’t doing its job, is it?_

With another meaningful look at Diggory to hand over the reigns, Professor Snape takes a step back. But instead of resuming his seat behind the desk, he begins sweeping around the classroom and pins each of them with a steady gaze whenever Diggory interacts with them, to ensure exemplary behaviour.

By the time Diggory instructs them all to get on their feet and pair up, Professor Snape keeps his sweeping limited to the Gryffindor half of the classroom, circling Longbottom in particular like an ominous vulture. Although, Harry is surprise to notice, he might not have bothered because the usually insecure Gryffindor boy is doing really well. Much better than either Crabbe or Goyle who keep muttering hexes out of the side of their mouths and sending each other flying.

Better even than Harry, who did do quite a lot of practising in using non-verbal spells when he was revising for his O.W.L.s with Draco last year, not that the O.W.L.s included non-verbal spells or the Patronus Charm, but Draco wanted to practise that too, probably hoping for the opportunity to show off in the exams, even if it wouldn’t award him any actual bonus points. So Harry knows he can cast at least Protego and Expelliarmus non-verbally, but right now he’s really struggling to concentrate.

Just like Longbottom is the eye of Professor Snape’s hurricane focus of the Gryffindor side of the classroom, Draco seems to be Diggory’s and Harry can tell the blonde is aware because his face is sporting a permanent tint of pink and keeps getting flustered and dropping his wand. It’s not enough for the monster in Harry to snap its jaws in agitation, but it’s enough for him to clench his own, until he’s got a tension headache brewing behind his eyes from the strain of it.

The bell couldn’t ring soon enough.

When it does, Harry sags with relief and pockets his wand again.

”You guys go ahead, I just need to talk to Professor Snape, I’ll catch up”, he tells his friends.

He lingers by his desk until most of the students, and more importantly, Diggory as made their way out of the classroom and then approaches his Head of House.

”No — the answer is no”, Professor Snape says without looking up.

”Wh-what?” Harry stumbles to a stop.

Professor Snape draws a dramatically deep breath and stares up at a random point in the ceiling.

”Sir, I just wanted to talk to—”

”No.”

”But, Sir—!”

”I can’t do anything about it, I don’t care, and no.”

Harry lets out an affronted huff, ”You don’t even know what I’m going to say!”

”I can guess”, Professor Snape mutters drily.

” _No you can’t_ ”, Harry insists. ”Sir—”

” _Look_ ”, Snape snaps. ”I am your Head of House, concerned only with your immediate wellbeing, as in _actual, physical safety,_ and your grades. I have never, nor do I now, care about the insignificant and tedious drama that is your — or any other adolescent in this school’s — love life. _However_ … if I did, I would tell you that, even under the most ludicruous of circumstances in which Mister Malfoy’s affections for yourself were to waver due to the attentions of another, an eventuality as unlikely as it is laughable, then that _other_ would _still_ not be Mister Diggory… because although he’s not yet a qualified teacher, his status in this school, at the time being, is that of a _Hogwarts Professor—_ ”

”S-sir—”

” _As such,_ he is neither encouraged or permitted to display any inappropriate feelings or behaviours, so you have nothing to worry about.”

”Sir…”

”What? Snape snaps.

”That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

The Potions Master narrows his eyes suspiciously at him and Harry gives him his most earnest look. It does very little to reassure the older man, but he does give him a small nod, encouraging him to continue.

”I’ve studying to become an animagus — in my own time, Remus has been helping me — and I’m at the stage now where I need to start brewing the potion, it will take me two months to brew and then it needs to sit for another month, before I can drink it—”

”I’m familiar with the potion”, Professor Snape murmurs, giving him an appraising look.

”I’m sure you are, but I’m not asking you to help, it’s a completely extracurricular thing — and well, now you’re not even my Potions teacher anymore, so I really couldn’t ask you to help, even if I wanted — but I don’t want help, I want to do it on my own… the only thing is, I can’t do it at home, because the Hogsmeade weekends are enough for me to add each new ingredient…”

Professor Snape nods in understanding.

”Do you think it would be okay for me to brew it here?”

”You’ll have to talk to Professor Slughorn about using the Potions classroom, it’s really up to him now. I can’t see him objecting, but if he does, you are welcome to use my private lab — for this purpose only!”

Harry beams, letting out a sigh of relief, ”Thank you, Sir…”

”You’re welcome. Now, get going or you’ll be late for…something, I’m sure…”

”I have a free period now, Sir”, Harry smirks. ”But I’ll get out of your hair. Thank you.”

He joins his friends in the library and has time to steal a couple of kisses from Draco before the blone has to leave for Arithmancy. He’s already looking a bit stressed, Harry notices, frowning to himself. He looks back at the others, catching Pansy’s eye. The girl looks a bit concerned as well. Harry feels a little better knowing that she will help him keep an eye on Draco to make sure he’s okay, and if worse comes to worse, she’ll help him convince the other boy to drop one of his classes. As if having heard his thoughts, the girl gives him a small nod and a moment of silent agreement passes between them.

” _Potter!_ ”

He turns around to see a Gryffindor boy come striding into view from behind a bookcase. Harry doesn’t remember his name, but recognises him from the Gryffindor Quidditch team from last year when he was a beater.

”Yeah?” he frowns warily as the boy walks up to him.

”Message for you”, the boy says and hands over a small roll of parchment.

”Er…” Harry takes the note and watches the boy stride off again. ”Thanks, I guess…”

”Weird”, Pansy comments, frowning at the roll of parchment as Harry taps it with his wand and unrolls it. ”Who’s it from?”

”Dumbledore”, Harry says heavily, scanning the words in the brief message.

_Dear Harry,_

_I would like to start our private lessons this Saturday. Kindly come along t my office at eight p.m. I hope you are enjoying your first day back at school._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S. I enjoy Acid Pops._

”He - is - _so_ \- weird”, Pansy mutters, craning over Harry’s shoulder to read.

Seamus, craning over his other shoulder, frowns in confusion at the message, ”He enjoys Acid Pops?”

”It’s probably the password to get past the gargoyle outside his office”, Harry mumbles.

”How d’you know?” Seamus demands.

”What else would it be?” Harry counters. ”A subtle request that I bring some with me?”

Seamus shrugs.

”Why is Dumbledore giving you private lessons?” Pansy asks and Harry doesn’t miss the serious undercurrent in her voice. ”And what kind of lessons are they?”

”I don’t know”, Harry tells her earnestly. ”Guess I’ll find out on Saturday…”

It was odd trudging past the Common Room to the Potions classroom and be greeted by new Professor Slughorn rather than Professor Snape, whom Harry had come to associate so strongly with the candle-lit gloom and haze of potions to found inside the classroom, that it might as well be an extension of his long, black robes.

Although the gloom, candle light and potions fumes were all still very present inside room, it still didn’t feel the same when Slughorn manoeuvred his pot belly around the desk and then twinkled happily at them all, his large walrus moustache twitching happily especially when his gaze lingered on various members of his precious after school club.

He lingered particularly long over Harry and Draco, whom he’d yet to officially meet and even tapped the side of his long nose while sending Harry a wink. 

After seeing the professor in training Diggory send countless of winks to random students for over an hour and now seeing this old wizard do the same, it strikes Harry, and not for the first time, that — what he might have thought of as intimidating back in First Year — the strict, no-nonsense professionalism of Professor Snape and McGonagall, is in fact the quality he’s come to appreicate the most in his teachers.

Even Remus when he taught them Defence in Third Year. Although he would have had every excuse to treat Harry in a more informal manner, whilst in the classroom, he never did.

Returning the man’s grin with a pinched smile of his own, Harry quickly averts his eyes. He realises that the Slug Club members actually make up roughly half the class. Even though all four houses are still technically represented, only a handful from each has clearly gone on to take potions for their N.E.W.T.s, making it a weirdly intimate class, especially in the dimly lit room cloaked in various vapours.

It comes as no surprise to Harry that the Slytherins are overrepresented, and he wonders if this is because they all genuinely like Potions or because they’d assumed Professor Snape would be teaching it. Crabbe and Goyle clearly didn’t get the required O.W.L. grade to qualify, but the rest of their year is here, even Millicent although she doesn’t look very happy about it.

Looking around again, Harry counts only three Gryffindors — Granger, Weasley and the annoying girl who’s always hanging around the Patil twins — four Ravenclaws and one Hufflepuff, Macmillan, who’s a bit of a pompous bookworm, but nice enough.

”Now then, now then, now then…” Slughorn says jovially, sinking into the straight-backed chair behind the teacher’s desk and clasping his hands on top of his large, round belly. ”Scales out, everyone, and potions kits, and lest not forget your copies of Advanced Potion-Making… But before we get started, I have taken the liberty of preparing a few potions for you to have a gander at, see if you can work out what they are, eh? Just for fun, you know? Allow me to gauge your level, so to speak, what…”

Harry barely resists scrunching up his nose at the man’s overty cheerful tone and forces himself to focus on the cauldron closests to their table instead. What looks like plain water is simmering inside it. Leaning forward slightly, Harry gives mist of steam rising from it an experimentative sniff, but he can’t smell anything.

He sees Granger’s hand shooting into the air through the corner of his eye. Next to him, Draco thrusts his own hand into the air a split second later, it comes crashing back down with a loud _bang_ as soon as Slughorn nods at Granger instead and she happily exclaims, ”It’s Veritaserum, a colourless, odourless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth!”

”Very good, very good, have a point for Gryffindor”, Slughorn says happily, then gestures for the cauldron nearest the Ravenclaws. ”Now, what about this one h—?”

Again, Granger’s hand shoots into the air. Draco throws her a filthy look and barks out, ” _Polyjuice Potion!_ ”

Slughorn blinks in surprise, but the smile doesn’t slip from his face, ”Oh-ho! That is correct. Excellent, excellent, mister Malfoy. But please remember to raise your hand in future, eh? Now, this potion here…”

Draco simply glowers silently, crossing his arms.

For a third time, Granger’s hand has shot into the air before Slughorn has even finished asking the question and he looks at her with a bemused, yet impressed look and nods at her to continue.

”That is Amortentia, Sir. It’s the most powerful love potion in the world.”

”Quite right”, Slughorn says. ”You recognised it, I suppose, by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen, yes?”

Granger nods eagerly, ”And the steam rising in characteristic spirals, Sir!”

”Well spotted—”

”It’s supposed to smell differently to each person, according to what one finds attractive, isn’t Professor? I mean, I, for instance, can smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and…”

A muffled chorus of snickers and snorts can be heard from Draco, Pansy and Daphne and Granger immediately stops short, blushing a bright red.

”That is spot on, my dear”, Slughorn says. ”Have another ten points for Gryffindor.”

Draco and girls immediately fall silent again, exchanging disgruntled looks.

”Amortentia doesn’t really create love, of course”, Slughorn continues. ”It is impossible to manufacture or even imitate love. No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. But even so, it is probably the most powerful and dangerous potion in this room… Ah yes… When you’ve seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of either infatuation or obsession… Now, it is time for you to get to work!”

”Sir, you haven’t told us about this one”, Macmillan pipes up.

Harry looks over to see him pointing at a tiny cauldron closest to his own table, across the classroom from where Harry and his friends are sitting. It’s too far away for Harry to see inside it, even if he stands up and cranes his neck, but he can see golden drops of it splashing over the rim, making it look like goldfish leaping back and forth.

”Oh-ho”, Slughorn exclaims again, obviously pretending to discover the cauldron himself for the first time. ”Now this… this, ladies and gentlemen, is a most curious little potion that goes by the name of… Felix Felicis…”

He pauses for dramatic effect, looking at each one of them in turn, smiling wider and wider as several students, Granger and Draco included, let out little gasps of wonder. Harry frowns. He’s never heard of Felix Felicis before.

”I take it”, Slughorn says in a dramatic hush, peering over at Granger. ”That some of you know what it does? Miss Granger?”

”It’s liquid luck”, Granger says excitedly. ”It makes you lucky!”

”Exactly”, Slughorn nods. ”It really is a funny little potion, Felix Felicis. Desperately tricky to make, disastrous to get wrong… However, _if brewed correctly,_ as I daresay this has been… you will find that all of your endeavours will succeed, until its effects wear off… and this, is what I shall be offering as a prize for whomever brews me the best Draught of the Living Death — that’s right — one tiny bottle of Felix Felicis, enough for twelve hours’ luck, from dawn til dusk — however, I must warn you, Felix Felicis is a banned substance in organised competitions such as porting events, examinations or elections, so the winner is to use it on an ordinary day only — that is the prize on offer: _the power to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary!_ So, if you please, turn to page ten in your copies of Advanced Potion-Making. You have one hour. Off you go!”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fourth instalment of the Nearly series, but it's basically a continuation of the Nearly fic. I plan to go back to the alternative version of the books (so book six and seven left and maybe an epilogue) to finish up the Harry/Draco story. 
> 
> I do have a fifth instalment planned for after that, but it's going to be a Moonstar fic with Remus and Sirius POV to various moments from Nearly, as well as some moments we haven't seen yet (before Harry was born and in the years between the prologue and his 11th birthday, or when he's away at Hogwarts, that sort of thing) and that's probably going to be a lot shorter. Maybe even a oneshot, we'll see.


End file.
